The Single Hardest Lesson for Christians
Here we go:
Matthew 5:44-48 - 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; 45) 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. 46) For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? 47) And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more [than others]? do not even the publicans so? 48) Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
With today's political and social climate, it might feel like the “sermon on the mount” preached by Jesus in the gospels is considered “old fashioned” or “out-dated”, but the Word of God has a funny way of reminding us that it originated from God, Who is not bound by time and knew our needs (and sins) before there were “civilized” societies.
Let’s dig into the particulars of verse 44:
- Love your enemies
- Bless the people that curse you
- Do good to people that hate you
- Pray for those that “despitefully use” you (the Greek translated “despitefully use” means falsely accuse)
If those words feel unnatural, it’s because they are!! You will not be able to follow them without help from the Lord because they go that hard against what our flesh yearns to do.
The mantra of our flesh sounds more like this, in comparison:
- Hate those that hate you
- God bless my family, my country, and my efforts
- The Lord helps those who help themselves
- May the Lord judge harshly those who falsely accuse me
Our flesh yearns to bring up the instances in scripture where God judged those that came against the righteous, but not the many more times God called believers to humble themselves to authority or even bless those who cause us pain. A seemingly silly example of a thing I started doing to train myself against that fleshly yearning was to over-tip a rude waiter / waitress: of the many messages that it was sending (like the fact that I was blessed enough to have the amount to tip), the one that jumps upfront in spirit is that the person giving the bitterness is likely going through far more than I was in going out to enjoy a meal; their need was clear in what they gave from the abundance of their heart - now what has Christ given me that can help their need? Who was/is Christ to me that saw my arrogance, bitterness, even rebellion, and still loved me, blessed me, did good for me, and even prayed for me, though He knew I would falsely accuse Him; He knew I would do every single sin I’ve done, and He still let them put Him on that cross… His sacrifice IS His testimony on how to accomplish our hardest lesson - keep following Him and die to our flesh moment over moment and choice over choice…
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If you're looking for a simple way to reflect on this in your daily walk, we created a few journals and devotionals that may help. Here's an example of one of them: Faithfully Rooted: A 90-Day Journey
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