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| Servants of Grace |
But if you love those who love you, what credit is that
to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And
if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For
even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from
whom you hope to receive back, what credit is that to you? For sinners lend
to sinners to receive as much back. But love your
enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will
be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the
unthankful and evil. Therefore, be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
Luke 6:32-36 (NKJV)
This passage has good guidance in it. Jesus tells us to “love
your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return”. If we follow
this command, we will be loving those around us as Jesus loved.
And if you do good to those who do good to you, what
credit is that to you?
In our Christian walk we will see people who need help but
cannot repay us for what we do to help them. According to these words of Jesus,
we need to help them anyway.
if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive back,
what credit is that to you?
Sometimes, it is difficult for a person to find a way to
repay a loan, it may be such that it would be a double hardship for them to
repay.
But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for
nothing in return;
These are words of Jesus telling us these things. Even when
we love someone with Christ’s love, that does not mean that they love us in the
same way. When we do good, Jesus sees that in us. Jesus makes it clear here
that we should not expect anything in return for the goodness we do.
and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of
the Most High
Our reward will come from Jesus.
“For He is kind to the unthankful and evil.”
When we obey this command we display a certain type of love—mercy.
As we do these things to those who do not respond thankfully, we show His
mercy. “For He is kind to the unthankful and evil.”
“Therefore, be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”
When we show mercy to someone, we are reflecting Jesus and
His love to that person and to those around us as well as those who might hear
of our action.
I think one of the hardest things for us to do in this life is to always be "merciful", and to always "love" those that we may find difficult to love. I pray for God's grace and love to shine through me, because I am not always able to let my own love shine. Does that make sense? I know God understands this, and I pray He will continue to help me love others the way He wants me to. Thank you for this post and a good reminder to love.
ReplyDeletePam: Thank you for your comment. I had trouble writing this post. We all find it difficult to love people who seem to do things that test us. Sometimes we have to ask God to love them for us. Peace and blessings.
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