It is easy to love those that love you, but it takes real Bible salvation to love those that hate you, that speak evil of you, and that slander your Christian name.
To love the unlovely and those that respond negatively to your deeds of kindness is one of the highest callings of the Christian faith. For this, Jesus came to show us the way.
As the children of God, we are not only called but also commanded to love our neighbors and our enemies as ourselves.
The following are a few scriptures that will do us good to meditate and consider.
Love For Your Neighbor And Enemy:
Mat 5:44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
Mat 5:46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?
Mat 22:39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
Luk 6:27 But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you,
Luk 6:35 But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.
Gal 5:14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
Jas 2:8 If ye fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well:
September 6th, 2011 at 8:39 pm
Bob if I’m out of line sharing these Inspirational stories please let me know, when I read one of your massagers I remember the Lessons the Lord has taught me on my walk with Him by these stories that has touched my heart over the years and brought a response from me….
Is it easy to Love those who abuse us and to continue to have compassion for them and do good to them when they keep on hurting us …No it is impossible without the empowering of the Holy Spirit, yes we can say we forgive them in our head but real forgiveness must come from our heart and the true sign of forgiveness is seeking fully wholehearted Reconciliation regardless of the cost to us, just as God has done, but sometimes people are hurting so much that they don’t know how to make the pain stop and receive our Love and sometimes it has nothing to do with the hurt we have caused them but it can open the wound more…only God’s Sacrificial Love cannot only heal the wound but erase the scars and yet we can even remember by the scars that we have been healed and be eternally thankful.
Christian Love Anne.
September 6th, 2011 at 9:10 pm
Washed Potatoes
Dr Bob a Seminary Professor who was teaching on the high cost of being unwilling to forgive, asked each of his students to bring a sack of potatoes to class. and for each person they refused to forgive, they had to select a potato and write on it the person’s name that had hurt them and caused them pain. Then for a month they each had to carry the sack of potatoes with them everywhere they went, even to bed.
The Students were eager not to miss anyone who they felt deserved to be in the sack, some sacks were very heavy, but after a while they all became uncomfortable to carry and the potatoes started to sprout and then rot and stink… One by one the Students lightened the load till no potatoes were left and they then realised that carrying around bitterness and resentment was also a heavy load much more so then the potatoes and the smell that they emitted was not very pleasant… They needed to be washed clean.
We can’t receive forgiveness without forgiving others. If we are not willing to do this and we hold onto our stinking bitterness and resentment we pollute ourselves and others and also cut ourselves off from fellowship with God. Those who have hurt us also need to ask for our forgiveness but even before they do this we have to forgive them just as our Heavenly Father was willing to forgive us and sent His Son Jesus Christ who died for us even while we were still His enemies, He did this so we could be forgiven of our sins and be set free from the control of sin. But like those who have hurt us we can’t receive God’s forgiveness until we say we are sorry from the heart.
What a price God paid so we could be forgiven, it’s a gift we give to others and one we give ourselves, because when we harbour bitterness and resentment, inner Love, Joy Hope and Peace eludes us and we cannot fellowship with the Lord because Light and Darkness are incompatible and cannot be in Unity.
Mark 11: 25-26 And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in Heaven may forgive you your trespasses. But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which
is in Heaven forgive your trespasses.
Matthew 5:43-45 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy Neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in Heaven for He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
Music - A New Commandment.