Matthew 5:43-48
Love for Enemies
43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Matthew 22:36-40
The LOVE Commandments
36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
John 3:16-17
God LOVES the World
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
1 John 4:8
God is LOVE
8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
The world seems to be broken and needs fixed...It seems broken in more ways than one...There are different problems around us...Jesus never went around telling His Disciples that the world was fine and dandy...And the world would be fixed if we all love God and love neighbor...
When I read Jesus' message in the four gospels and see that He sought out the sinners, the poor, the outcasts of society -it seems that this is one of the characteristics of many of His followers (has)...We are somewhat broken, maybe much broken...But He came to help us...We have this need...And this need (and sometimes we are not even aware that we need it) is somehow not only satisfied by Him, but can be fixed by Him...When we read about the crowds that followed Jesus, it seems God is on the side of those broken...Why else, would He send His Son, to help us?...God is full of grace, and wants to help those in need...As we read through the New Testament, when Jesus sees those who were sick, threatened, oppressed, needing help, and those at the margin of societies He wants to help them...And when He was on earth, it seems He helped these groups and their issues almost immediately...Jesus was able to fix the brokenness of the people He touched that needed mercy...
There is this brokenness in this world that man has created...We fell from grace with our first sin and that started a cycle of mankind's sinful nature, that we just have not been able to stop...I think we would like to talk about world peace, and world kindness, and a love that would permeate the world, but we are unable to repair and fix that brokenness...I think the vast majority of people in the world would like to fix all the world's problems, but we don't...The problem starts with me and each one of us...We do not quite have it in us to love our enemies...We just do not seem to be able to forgive our enemies...
The repairs we need all start and end with LOVE...Our problems include not being able to forgive...If we LOVE like God LOVES, us then we can fix the brokenness...The cross shows us both LOVE and forgiveness...God forgives our sins and our brokenness, with His Son's death...He has shown that the world's problems can be fixed, when He sent His Son...His Son fixed all the brokenness that was ever placed before Him...Our best hope, and maybe our only hope, is to cling to the cross of hope and believe in Jesus and the One who sent Him...