YOU HAVE HEARD IT SAID (Part 2 of 3)

You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” But I say to you, “Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven..." (Matthew 5:43-45).

The Lord knew that Kingdom values would run contrary to the world’s values. He knew that unless we knew His ways and deliberately chose to live in accordance with them, we would absorb worldly values and hold them as standards that would shape our lives. So He outlined the sharp contrast by saying, “You have heard it . . . said. . . [b]ut I say to you. . . .” In the last post, I discussed the importance of loving enemies and thereby overcoming evil with good and revealing Jesus to a world that is dying without Him.   

The next part is equally challenging yet also has the potential to reveal His Kingdom to a dying world: He instructs us to “bless those who curse [us]. . . .” God wants us, His sons and daughters, to respond with a blessing when we are cursed. He wants the reality of Jesus to consume us to the degree that we cannot return the curse because we have no desire to. He wants us to so love the offenders that we can think of nothing but blessings over them, no matter what they have spoken against us.

What God speaks always comes to pass, and as His children, we have the responsibility to speak like our Father. Words of life, words of faith, words that heal and restore--that’s what He wants us to declare over those who curse us. Why? He has already given His only begotten Son for them, and now He wants us, His beloved sons and daughters, to agree with His declarations. He wants our thoughts towards those who curse us to be in line with what His thoughts towards all mankind have always been, thoughts to redeem and to restore. Such thoughts cost Him His Son, the ultimate price (Romans 5:8). But such thoughts made the way for us to enter His Kingdom. Might such thoughts on your part ultimately result in others becoming a part of the Kingdom of God?

In Proverbs 18:20-21, we read, “A man’s stomach shall be satisfied from the fruit of his mouth; from the produce of his lips he shall be filled. Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” Be filled with the blessing that you speak over that someone who curses you. Speak life over that someone, and further God’s Kingdom here on earth.

YOU HAVE HEARD IT SAID (Part 1 of 3)

You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” But I say to you, “Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven....” (Matthew 5:43--45)

I have heard it said that all fathers want for their sons to be like them. Even the worst of fathers, a father apart from God, wants to see a glimmer of himself reflected in the life of his sons. He wants his mannerisms mirrored, his values personified, his resemblance reflected in his offspring.

The Word says that we are created in God's image: “So God created man in His own image” (Genesis 1:27). He made us like He is, but because we are born into this fallen world, we do not always in every way accurately reflect that image; we do not always live a life that reflects God's values.  A prime example of the stark contrast between commonly-accepted values and God’s is found in the Scripture in Matthew 5. Our experience teaches us to love those who love us and to despise those who are our enemies; however, Jesus tells us how to act in accordance with Kingdom values when He says, "Love your enemies. . . . “ Loving enemies doesn’t mean we love what they do to us or how they act; it means that we love the unlovable in spite of who they are. We walk in forgiveness and love them despite how they might treat us. That is in keeping with our Father who loved us while we were yet sinners. Nothing can cause His love for us to diminish. Nothing. Pure, selfless, God-like love is what He longs to see flowing out of His own children, just like it flowed out of Jesus. 1 Peter 2:23 describes Jesus this way, “. . . [W]hen He was reviled, [He] did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously. . . .“ When you are reviled (verbally attacked), do you attack right back? When you suffer because of others, do you threaten them in any way, seeking to defend yourself? Or, at those times, do you commit yourself to Him Who judges righteously?

The Lord intends for us to overcome evil with good, in accordance with Romans 12:21. Little by little, we can portray the image of our Father and show the world how to live according to Kingdom principles.