Right Between The Eyes
Greetings,
“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect re-payment, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ lend to ‘sinners’, expecting to be re-paid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great and you will be sons of the Most High, because He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” Luke 6: 32-36
Someone posted these verses on an E-group the other day and they hit me as fresh and right between the eyes. We are supposed to be good and merciful to everyone, even enemies and those who mistreat us. Is it just me or does that sound like a very large and very difficult task?
Sometimes I find it most difficult to be loving and kind even to those who are close to me, but God expects that and more from every one of us. It is easy to be kind to the kind, most of the time. However, the Lord desires that we be kind and merciful to even our worst enemies. My dear friend Glenn Kaiser put it this way….., ” How we treat the person we love the least, is how we love God the most.” Returning kindness for kindness is easy, but showing kindness and mercy to those who are against us or God; that is a monumental task my friends.
If we want to truly be sons of the Most High..we need to be kind and merciful to everyone and perhaps especially to those whom we find the most difficulty relating to…including the ungrateful and the wicked. I do not think we can do this on our own, but Christ within us can…if we just allow Him to. That brings us back to a familiar topic…surrender! If we yield our heart and mind to Jesus we can, via The Holy Spirit, do very great things that are impossible to do in our flesh.
It is a simple principle …If we truly love God..we will in turn love others without condition. This does not mean we will always enter into full relationship with those who could do us harm. It is most possible to love others when healthy boundaries are in place. I loved and forgave my abusive father, but when I finally remembered the abuse and no longer repressed the memories; I did not put myself or my children in situations where he could do any further harm. So sure be loving, kind, forgiving and merciful, but please be smart too. Surrender every relationship to Jesus and He will help you navigate any situation you might face with others.
Love and…..
Kirk Out !
notesfromthebridge 
Right on target. Forgiveness does not have to mean fellowship. Sometimes, that is just not wise.
So True!
Great post, Christopher. Enjoyed it very much. I used to work with the kids from the streets in my town. Most of them were there because of abusive parents of varying degrees. I would tell them to forgive them did not mean lie down and let them hurt them again and again…it just meant release them so they didn’t have control in their lives anymore. Many times I would tell them unless God gave them grace to contact them, then don’t. Just wait. I had to chuckle as I read because just last night I read some parts of Romans 12 to my brother about not being high minded; not avoiding hanging out with people of ‘low degree’, etc because we don’t have enemies in our little town but people emotionally stunted who are ALWAYS needing something. We only have population 17ish in town so that means they reach out to us. He had a frustrating day when I read those verses so after I read them I prayed, “Lord, please give us BOTH grace for these ones who are so needy.” It’s good to be reminded we are all ONE in His body….not the ‘haves and the have nots’…..”BK”
thank you Chris. Leave it to the Holy Spirit to smack us at just the right time. This hit me HARD today. But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
Sky, what a great reminder! Amen and amen! Love, “BK”