Today’s Podcast
Today’s Bible reading plan:
Read it in a year – 2 Chronicles 11-15
see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)
Today’s Devotional
Luke 6:32-36
Jesus: Listen, what’s the big deal if you love people who already love you? Even scoundrels do that much! So what if you do good to those who do good to you? Even scoundrels do that much! So what if you lend to people who are likely to repay you? Even scoundrels lend to scoundrels if they think they’ll be fully repaid.
If you want to be extraordinary—love your enemies! Do good without restraint! Lend with abandon! Don’t expect anything in return! Then you’ll receive the truly great reward—you will be children of the Most High—for God is kind to the ungrateful and those who are wicked. So imitate God and be truly compassionate, the way your Father is.
What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?
Don’t you love it when Jesus gives us these nearly impossible tasks to perform? It’s easy to love those that love you back. I like being around those that think the way I do and act the way I do and believe the way I do. I like being around those that I know will accept the things I say without getting riled up, angry, and ready to strike back because of their different beliefs. I like giving to those that appreciate the thoughts that stirred up the gift because of long term relationships and the love and friendship that has developed over time.
But that’s not what Jesus calls us to do, is it? His implication in these verses is pretty clear. Do all those things with people that love you back is no big deal to God. He wants us to get uncomfortable and reach the world. He’s given us the mission the Israelites failed to complete.
Remember the covenant with Abraham? God told him that if he fulfilled his part of the covenant, all the nations would be blessed through him. The problem is that Abraham didn’t keep his part of the covenant. He went to Pharaoh during a couple of famines and told him that Sarah was his sister instead of his wife to keep from getting killed. He didn’t trust God to protect him from the power of Pharaoh. His children and their children did the same. They didn’t trust God to protect them or supply their needs or give them the strength at the right time to deal with the situations they faced from time to time.
By the time Jesus came to earth in the flesh, Israel was well known as a monotheistic society, but they hoarded their faith rather than sharing it. All the nations around them knew they didn’t worship the pantheon of gods they did, but the Jews didn’t share the message of salvation God told them to share. They kept it to themselves and guarded their precious information jealously. So Jesus came to share the message personally. Then after His crucifixion and resurrection, He gave us the mission of sharing His new covenant with all people who will believe that He is the Son of God and came to offer us salvation.
The point Jesus made emphasizes presenting the message to all people. Not just the ones we like. Imagine what our condition would be if Jesus shared the message with only those who He liked and liked Him. He didn’t have many friends while He was with us. Crowds gathered around Him, but in terms of real friends, He had Lazarus, Mary and Martha, most of His twelve disciples, and maybe a few others, but there were not scores of people He could really call friends when He walked the earth with us.
Still Jesus shared the message and not only did He share the message, but He saved His enemies as they discovered the truth of who Hie is. We were all His enemies when He called to us to share His message of grace and mercy and hope. We were anything but friends when our sins put Jesus on the cross, yet He still gave all He had for our salvation. He gave Himself. He died for us as the perfect sacrifice to pay the penalty we should pay for our sins against God.
So when we think about what He’s done for us when we were still His enemies, we can see that Jesus meant what He said when He said to love our enemies and to do good for those that would harm us. Jesus lived by the implications in these verses. He loved those who hated Him. He did good for those who tried to kill Him. He gave expecting nothing in return. In doing so, some who heard His message believed Him and gained eternal life. Some took up the mantel He gave them and shared the message with others and His kingdom is growing.
So the question for us is, will we follow Jesus’ example and love those who hate us and still share His message with them? Will we do good for those who would try to harm us and share the message with them? Will we give expecting nothing in return and share the message with a world that needs Jesus more than they know. When we share His message with that attitude and those actions behind it, people will listen. They will find that you live by a different set of rules. You live by kingdom rules instead of world rules. You live by rules that seem upside down from those they live by. Yet they will either be drawn to the message or hate you all the more.
That’s the reaction the kingdom message brings. But our mission is to share it. With everyone. So what are you waiting for? Get started.
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