It's rather amazing those who claim Christ, speak of His love for mankind yet love is not a big part of their lives. Religion is! Their belief in God is! But where is love? Just look at our attitudes toward those we don't like. Look at how we speak against them but we know what the Scriptures teach about love. "If someone says, 'I love God,' and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one how does not love his brother who he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen." (I John 4:20) Simply put, you cannot love God and not love your brother. IMPOSSIBLE! "Love your enemies..." (Matt. 5:44) says Jesus!
Love, the sacrificial doing of good toward another, is what God is after. Doesn't God do that to the most horrible of people by allowing them to enjoy His goodness by sun, rain and other necessary things? God's always been after us practicing this kind of love. "If you meet your enemy's ox or his donkey wandering away, you shall surely return it to him. If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying helpless under its load, you shall refrain from leaving it to him, you shall surely release it with him." (Ex. 23:4-5) In Deut. 22:1-2 we find: "You shall not see your countryman's ox or his sheep straying away, and pay no attention to them; you shall certainly bring them back to your countryman. If you countryman is not near you, or if you do not know him, then you shall bring it home to your house, and it shall remain with you until your countryman looks for it; then you shall restore it to him."
The Exodus text uses "enemy" while the Deuteronomy text uses "countryman" or sometimes translated brother. But what both these texts have in common is no matter who we are dealing with, help!!! That's what God-given love does. Love doesn't have a special place for those close to one and everyone else is repelled, especially your enemy. Love does no wrong to a neighbor, to anyone (Rom. 13:10). To love only those who love us, who are close to us, who agree with us is not a religion God is involved in. To embrace a belief system in God like that is to make a decision about the God you worship and that's where our belief system is tested. If our Savior and God calls us to love our enemies and says His children do the same, we cannot love just those who love and agree with us (Luke 6:35-36). We are called to walk in the steps of Jesus, be changed into His image and reflect the very nature of our Father.
How do you view those who hate you? If you saw an enemy in need, would you think they are getting what they deserve or help with the need? Hmmm....makes one reflect on what kind of Father we really claim as our own, doesn't it?
No comments:
Post a Comment