You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’
But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have?
Do not even the tax collectors do the same?
If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others?
Do not even the Gentiles do the same?
Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. Matthew 5:43-48
What does God’s love in us look like when it is perfected? Its a deep love that returns healing for hurt, grace for abuse, and evidence that we are related to our Father in heaven. Its different!!!
Jesus says that God blesses the evil and good with the basic courtesies of rain and sunshine. We too are to meet those who do not love us, with His love and basic courtesies. In doing so, we become a little more like Him.
Who has God placed in my life that I can love in Jesus’ name? Is my expression of love any different than the Gentile?
God, as this day begins in Del Rio / Acuna, would you help me see every person as one for whom Christ died. Help me and the team minister, serve and work to Your glory today. What a joy it is to be on the Power Ministry mission trip. Thanks for the reunions and new friendships. Bless my family while I am away.
Jonathan Edwards resolution #62. Resolved, never to do anything but duty; and then according to Eph. 6:6-8, do it willingly and cheerfully as unto the Lord, and not to man; “knowing that whatever good thing any man doth, the same shall he receive of the Lord.” June 25 and July 13, 1723.
