YOU HAVE HEARD IT SAID . . .

“YOU HAVE HEARD IT SAID, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AND HATE YOUR ENEMY.’ BUT I SAY TO YOU, LOVE YOUR ENEMIES, BLESS THOSE WHO CURSE YOU, DO GOOD TO THOSE WHO HATE YOU, AND PRAY FOR THOSE WHO SPITEFULLY USE YOU AND PERSECUTE YOU, THAT YOU MAY BE SONS OF YOUR FATHER IN HEAVEN; FOR HE MAKES THE SUN RISE ON THE EVIL AND ON THE GOOD, AND SENDS RAIN ON THE JUST AND ON THE UNJUST.” MATTHEW 4:43-45

This is the test isn’t it? To be a Christian is to live in opposition to your natural nature; it means to love those who hate you and to good to those who use you. There is no place within the believing heart for malice; no secret room where it is safe to store anger or revenge, no peg upon which you are to hang grudges.

Have we not been told, even if we perform all manner of miracle and yet do not love that our actions are useless? How easy it is to “love” those who love us; how easy it is to give if when we think there is a possibility of return or reward for such gifts. Sincere love is however when we sacrifice knowing there is nothing to be gained; greater love is when we give just as freely while understanding that we are being used.

We do not love for our sakes; we love for those around us, showing them the unconditional love of their Heavenly Father. Though our love is always tempered by our humanness, we can in small ways hint at the boundless depths of the Father’s love for us all.

God gives abundantly to all His children; the sun shines upon the good, the bad and the ugly, while the rain refreshes both those who are fair and those who are unfair.

Believer, your job is simple, but there is nothing easy in it; that is it is uncomplicated, but not easy to perform; Jesus says,
“YOU HAVE HEARD IT SAID, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AND HATE YOUR ENEMY.’ BUT I SAY TO YOU, LOVE YOUR ENEMIES, BLESS THOSE WHO CURSE YOU, DO GOOD TO THOSE WHO HATE YOU, AND PRAY FOR THOSE WHO SPITEFULLY USE YOU AND PERSECUTE YOU, THAT YOU MAY BE SONS OF YOUR FATHER IN HEAVEN; FOR HE MAKES THE SUN RISE ON THE EVIL AND ON THE GOOD, AND SENDS RAIN ON THE JUST AND ON THE UNJUST.” AMEN!