Thursday, February 02, 2006

"Least of these" vs. "Enemies"

I really like the material for this week, not because of its difficulty, but what Jesus is teaching. My favorite part is Luke 6:32-36.

Luke 6:32-36-
"If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' lend to 'sinners,' expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful."

When we do missions and service, we base it off Matthew 25. We do it for "the least of these." But Luke opens our eyes to something. While doing this stuff for the "least of those", we really don't know them. We have nothing against them, so we do it. But Luke throws in a different idea. What if we do these things for those who are our enemies? Can we forget their iniquities against us, not hold a grudge, not seek any kind of revenge, and be nice to them? For example, if someone crashed into your car, and both cars were damaged, would you pay for his/her car to be fixed as well as yours?

One day in March, our school has Random Acts of Kindness Day. On this day, students can pay for Senate to hand out to someone a not of compliments, encouragement and exhortation. A very good idea, but once again, destroyed by the student body. I GUARENTEE that most people will only give these notes to friends (and of course show-off couples will do what they do best and give one to their boyfriend/girlfriend). This proves Jesus's point. We say we do good stuff, but we only do it to those we know well and are our friends. Jesus states that unsaved and even bad people do that. It doesn't make us any different from them. So how do we? The world tells us to love our friends, and hate our enemies. If we show love towards our enemies, that will separate us from everyone else, and by our love towards those who hate us, the world will notice the followers of Christ.

Quizzing Question of the post:
Where had a great number of people come from to hear Jesus and be cured of the sicknesses?

No comments:

An Evaluation of Children's Church Songs

I have an atypical daughter. Despite all the baby books stating that infants sleep 10-12 hours during the night, along with 2 hour-long naps...