Love Your Enemies

Lk. 6:35-36

But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for He is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.

Since God was kind to the ungrateful and the evil, He, by example, set a life principle for His children. In this passage, He says I am to do good to those who hate me, bless those who curse me, and pray for those who abuse me. How hard is that! When I am hurt in any of these ways, my flesh cries out to hurt in return, or if not that, then at least to stay away from this person so that I don't open up myself for more hurts. But God says the way of the flesh is not His way. If I only love those who love me, or do good to those who do good to me, I am no better than an unsaved person who only does something to ensure a similar response. In God's kingdom, the principle is love, do good, and lend expecting nothing. Even as I read those words, I wonder if I could ever act in these ways. Perhaps that is the way it should be. If I thought I could do it, then it would be my works and not grace. For me, it would certainly be all of grace and only after much prayer. He promises a great reward for this behavior, but even that isn't enough to counter my flesh's response when I am hurt. I think it is only the grace of God perfected in my weakness that could make this possible. Then again, maybe the reward is experiencing the grace of God working in and through my life.

Father,

Teach me to live like this, to be merciful as You are. I thank You for Your great mercy to me and ask You help me share it with others.

In His name,

Amen