Love God and Love People, Even Our Enemies

Scripture For The Day  

February 21, 2023

 "Love God and Love People, Even Our Enemies" 

Let’s continue with Jesus’ Sermon on the mount. Today we study about loving our enemies. Matthew 5:43-48 has Jesus telling us that ‘you have heard it said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.’ Leviticus 19:18 tells us to love our neighbor but the idea that Jesus shared on loving our enemies was scandalous, to say the least. Everything He shared was contrary to what the religious leaders were teaching. Jesus reminds us that even unbelievers love some people. That’s the easy part. But Jesus tells us to go beyond that, as usual, He tells us to go above and beyond what the world does and love our enemies. We are all broken people and we need Jesus. That’s the bottom line and The Truth of the matter. None of us are perfect. We all struggle and though we are different and deal with various issues we are basically the same, we are human and rain falls on the righteous and the unrighteous. God is no respecter of persons. If all we do is keep to our cliques and circles what kind of witness for The Lord are we being? If we love only our friends and family, we are no better than the unbelievers who do the same. They love their families and friends. Therefore, Jesus tells us in verse 48… be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. We are to be different than unbelievers. We are to be a light for this dark world to draw to and have their hearts and souls changed. Perfection is impossible for us in our flesh but with God all things are possible. Let us seek Him first and foremost today. Let’s keep our eyes on His Kingdom and Love God with every bit of our being, then and only then will we be able to love not only our friends and family but our enemies as well. *Love God and Love People. 



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Hide It Under a Bushel? NO!

Image
   Scripture For The Day  December 19, 2023 Luke 19 part 1 "Hide It Under a Bushel? NO!"  And Jesus passed through Jericho. Jericho had a lot of history, even at that time. It was a major trading center and there was a wealthy tax collector named Zaccheus who lived and worked there. He heard about Jesus and decided to see for himself. But he was a short man and there were a lot of people traveling with Jesus and a huge crowd lining the street waiting to see Jesus pass by. Less than 15 miles away, Jesus had just raised Lazarus from the dead. He was a rockstar. So, Zaccheus ran up ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see Jesus. As soon as Jesus got to the tree, He looked up and said “Zaccheus, make haste, and come down; for today I must abide at thy house.” I bet y’all are singing the song right now…I was. 😊 The crowd began to murmur. How could Jesus eat with a sinner like this dishonest tax collector? Zaccheus was so overwhelmed with the love of Jesus that he
Read more

He Restores My Soul

Image
Scripture For The Day    November 14, 2023 "He Restores My Soul"  Psalm 23- Most of us know this beloved Psalm. The LORD is our Shepherd and we who believe are His Sheep. However in recent years, the label of ‘sheep’ has become a derogatory term. I don’t care. I am so very thankful that I am part of His flock. So, Baa Baa baby. Call me a sheep. I know that I matter to Him just as much as the other sheep in His flock. No more, no less. In His Word, His people are never described as lions. But as meek and dependent sheep that depend upon a Shepherd. I’ll take that any day. Because it’s The Truth. I learned this passage when I was a little girl. But no one took the time to teach me what it meant. So, I was always confused by the first verse” “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.” Why? I would ask The LORD? Why can’t I ‘want’ You? I Love You and I do ‘want’ You to be with me. It wasn’t until I was much older and studying on my own that I discovered the word ‘want” meant
Read more

Aijeleth Shahar

Image
  Scripture For The Day  November 13 th , 2023 "Aijeleth Shahar"  Psalm 22 has David assigning this song to the director of the corporate worship stating it is to be sung or chanted by “Aijeleth Shahar” translated means by the hind of the dawn or “The Deer of The Dawn”. Made me think of how sometimes there are little songs for kids to learn and they often use the tune of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” for them to learn them better. Psalm 22 is a cry of anguish and as per usual a song of Praise. And by the very first verse, we can read words that Jesus Christ, Himself, spoke on The Cross. Jesus often quoted scriptures.  “My God, My God, why hast Thou Forsaken Me? (why art thou so) far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?” You have no idea how deeply this verse spoke to me today. I woke up early this morning thinking of the word Forsake. So, as I type I am asking The LORD, “What are you bringing to my heart today?” to forsake means to abandon or turn against. Mak
Read more