"You're familiar with the old written law, 'Love your friend,' and its unwritten companion, 'Hate your enemy.' I'm challenging that. I'm telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer, for then you are working out of your true selves, your God-created selves. This is what God does. He gives his best — the sun to warm and the rain to nourish — to everyone, regardless: the good and bad, the nice and nasty. If all you do is love the lovable, do you expect a bonus? Anybody can do that." (Matt 5:43-46) If we are honest, this is one of those scriptures in the bible that we'd prefer was not in there. It is so contradictory to our natural inclinations. Hurt me, I hurt you. Hate me, I hate you. That can be done with little or no effort. Could it be that is the answer to why there is so much hurt and hate because little or no effort is put towards love? Starting today, let's put forth more effort and love hardest when its hardest to love!
PRAYER: Lord, help us put forth more effort in loving those that are the hardest to love. Strengthen us to overcome our natural inclinations and allow you to love others through us. Amen!
Rom 12:19-21. . . . Dear friends, never avenge yourselves. Leave that to God, for he has said that he will repay those who deserve it. Don't take the law into your own hands. Instead, feed your enemy if he is hungry. If he is thirsty give him something to drink and you will be "heaping coals of fire on his head." In other words, he will feel ashamed of himself for what he has done to you. Don't let evil get the upper hand, but conquer evil by doing good. TLB
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