Tag Archives: values

Share with your enemies (Luke 6:32-36) October 4, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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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. 

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Upside down values (Luke 6:24-26) October 2, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

Subscribe in: iTunes|Download

Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Hebrews 5-7

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Luke 6:24-26
Jesus: All you who are rich now, you are in danger
for you have received your comfort in full.
All you who are full now, you are in danger
for you shall be hungry.
All you who laugh now, you are in danger
for you shall grieve and cry.
And when everyone speaks well of you, you are in danger
for their ancestors spoke well of the false prophets too.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

Jesus’ words should scare all of us who live in the United States. We don’t think much about that because only a small percentage of us have traveled outside the country. The average American thinks of the wealthy as that bunch of billionaires that own multiple mansions and float around on their personal yachts. But the truth is, the average American is wealthy compared to the rest of the world’s population. We’re really pretty privileged. Most of us have not one, but a couple of cars in the drive, we probably have two or three televisions in the house. I would guess every adult in most households has their own cell phone. Most of us eat every day and have more than two suits of clothing in our closets.

Jesus tells us we are in danger. We have enough to be comfortable without asking for outside help. We have enough to eat without wondering if God will supply our daily bread from some unknown source. We go about life without calling on Him every day for the essentials of life. We get very comfortable with the things we have that keep us just out of the level of suffering physically in various areas of our physical life. And if Satan can keep us focus on our physical comforts, he wins.

But if we get too comfortable now and forget where the essentials of life come from, if we forget that God supplies all good things, we will lose our way and find ourselves in a place of eternal punishment instead of eternal reward. At the end of time, comfort will suddenly become a thing of the past if comfort is what we concentrate on right now. Seventy years is a pretty short time compared to eternity. Not even a breath or a blink in comparison. So Jesus warns us that if we focus on wealth and comfort, we are focusing on the wrong thing.

How about hunger? Isn’t it important to eat well in order to stay fit and healthy so we can carry out the mission Jesus gave us? Sure it is, but do we focus more on food or on getting the message out? Having been to a lot of church dinners, I sometimes ask myself the question, “Do we have those big fellowship dinners to stay at church or do we stay at church to have those big fellowship dinners?” There is a big difference to God in how you answer that question. But once again, satiating ourselves with earths pleasures, whether food, or money, or job, or fame, or anything else isn’t the right answer. When we start looking for satisfaction from anything other than the joy that comes from God’s spirit in us, we are in danger.

Jesus told those on the hillside that day that those who laugh are in danger. Does that mean we should be somber all the time and not enjoy life? No. I think Jesus’ life was filled with laughter. He would not have attracted children to Him the way He did if He didn’t laugh. But I think when we seek solely to find happiness instead of joy, we are in trouble. God cursed this world because sin entered into it through our disobedience. It will never be the kind of place we should fully enjoy because of the flawed nature we gave it. We can find and experience moments of happiness, but we should not be content to stay in this world. We should not be content with this place. He tells us when we get to the point that we find all our happiness here, we are in danger. There is a better place. We can have joy because of His spirit in us, but His spirit assures us that we are not citizens of this world, but gives us hope for a better tomorrow.

Jesus also tells us to beware of the praise of men. When we seek the approval of those whose values are driven by the world instead of seeking God’s approval, we are in grave danger. The world’s values are upside down. Satan is the father of lies and traps us with his lies. He betrays us and pulls us into his schemes by luring us with the physical things of this world and through the false praise of others. When we get trapped into seeking the praise of others, we are in danger of losing our way on the narrow path that Jesus urges us to follow.

We live in a minefield on this planet called earth. It’s values tell us to be comfortable, satisfy your deepest desires, find happiness wherever you can, gain the praise of others. But when we pursue those values, we pursue them in opposition to the will and obedience of our heavenly Father. It is far better to suffer a short time here than to suffer eternally, don’t you think? 

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.