Friday, May 16, 2014

God's Love TurnsThe Other Cheek


Proverbs 25:21-22 - If your enemies are hungry, give them food to eat. If they are thirsty, give them water to drink.  You will heap burning coals on their heads, and the LORD will reward you.

 

King Hezekiah found some of Solomon’s unpublished quotes and had them copied and compiled into this chapter. Included in these random quotes is a directive to be nice to our enemies…to feed them when they are hungry…and to provide drink when they are thirsty.

 

It is one of the hardest verses in the Bible to follow….for our human tendency to pout and try to make them suffer usually wins out.  Jesus says in Matthew 5: 38-40 -"You have heard that it was said, 'AN EYE FOR AN EYE, AND A TOOTH FOR A TOOTH.' "But I say to you, do not resist an evil person; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. "If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him have your coat also.”

 

God’s pure love does not see injustice anymore.  It loves despite the way we are treated…it loves even when we have no reason to love.  Jesus died for everyone …even asked his father to forgive the ones who caused his pain as he died.  That makes it pretty clear to me that I have not achieved the level of love God really wants me to work toward.

 

Father….thank you for the reminder that I have some work to do on my heart.  Help me learn to love the way Jesus did….with pureness and forgiveness….so I will model the truth about love to others. Teach me to turn my feelings and need to pout and make people pay for the wrong they did to me into a need to save their soul for eternity.  Amen.

No comments:

Post a Comment