TODAY’S WORD FOR THURSDAY MAY 26, 2016.
ENEMY
One who opposes or seeks to inflict injury upon another; foe; one who is against another.
Love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return. Luke 6:35.
Wherever Jesus went He attracted large crowds as he went from one town and one village to another proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. From the time He was a child people were amazed at His words. Sometimes however, the words that Jesus spoke were not what they wanted to hear. In Jesus day the people were living under Roman rule and the Romans were cruel oppressors. The people had no love for the Romans. They were dreaded enemies.
We read in Luke 6:27-36 the sermon of Jesus on how we are to deal with enemies. Jesus starts His comments by saying. “But I say to you who hear.” He states it this way because He knows that many believers will not want to hear what He is going to say about how we are to deal with our enemies. No one likes to hear anything that requires something difficult for us to do.
Jesus begins by telling us to love our enemies and to do good to them that hate you. Jesus is initiating here the most revolutionary lifestyle ever known in the history of mankind. No religion in the world can remotely compare with this. If you study other religions including Buddhism and Islam, they have absolutely no principles even close to this.
In verse 31, Jesus gives us what we know today is the golden rule. He says just as you want men to do to you, you also do to him likewise. Jesus was restating for the believers today what the law taught as recorded in Leviticus 19:18: You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself.
The natural reaction today is to return good for good and evil for evil. Think of how you have reacted at times when someone does something evil that has hurt you. You immediately want to do something, maybe hurtful, to get back at that person.
In Luke 6:32 Jesus says it is no credit to us if we love those who love us. Even sinners do that. Jesus wants us as believers in Him (verse 33) to do the hard thing and love our enemies. Jesus goes on to say that when we give good we should give it with an attitude of not expecting anything in return. The Lord will repay us, as it is written in Proverbs 19:17: He who has pity on the poor lends unto the Lord; and that which he has given will HE (God) repay him again.
God has been merciful to us and we are in return are to be merciful to others. In everything we do we must follow Christ’s example and be forgiving even as He was forgiving. Jesus loved us even when we were unlovely.
Our memory verse for this week is found in Zechariah 13:9
I will bring the one-third through the fire, will refine them as silver is refined, and test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, and I will answer them. I will say, This is My people; and each one will say, The Lord is my God.
Help me and my family to always to do good even to those who treat us badly. Help us by Your grace to love our enemies and pray for them that they will soon return to You.
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