Love and Forgive

Romans 5:8 "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

Jesus shocked His Jewish audience when He replaced the non-biblical idea of hating one's enemies with the New Testament idea of loving them (Matthew 5:43). The Jewish tradition of hating one's enemies had achieved Scripture-like status among the Jews--a status Jesus debunked.

The apostle Paul took that teaching a step further when he pointed out that it would be a rare occasion when someone might die for another person--even a righteous person (Romans 5:7), much less an enemy. Who would die for an enemy? God did, Paul said. God demonstrated His love for us--His enemies (Romans 5:10; Colossians 1:21)--by dying for us. So when God says, "I love you," He is saying He chose to love someone who, before being reconciled to Him through faith in Christ, was His enemy. What a shock to the world's system! The world thinks it's normal to love our friends but to hate our enemies. Yet God's love is counter cultural again.

God loves friends and enemies, as should we. If there is someone unlovely in your life today, surprise them with your love.

You never so touch the ocean of God's love as when you forgive and love your enemies.

Corrie ten Boom

P.S. I am accepting this challenge for myself today and wanted to pass it along to you. We all have people in our lives that either oppose us or are conflicted with us. We even have brothers and sisters in Christ that seem like enemies to us. We have difficulty resolving conflict and in order to avoid it, we tend to let things mount up until they are literally a mountain to get over. Forgive today. Forgive while it is small. Forgive because Jesus forgave you. We too, can choose to love someone who is unlovely or seemingly unlovable. No matter what has been said or done you can forgive. Love your enemies and the people you don't like too. It is what Jesus did and expects us to do also.

With His Love and Forgiveness,
Pastor Fred

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