Matthew 5:44-45
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".
Do you have enemies? (And do
they know they are your enemies)? And how would it look if you loved them? And
the praying for them?
I’m pretty sure God rejected my prayers
of “make her go away” and others as a
prayer that
met the criteria for praying
for your enemies. I know he was probably quite disappointed in me over some of the words I said. But I want to be a child of my Father in heaven, so
I’ll do better. (This paragraph is just a bonus, when I read it I felt like
I’d been spanked by the word of God. I really intended to talk about verse 45).
I've been reading the Gospels, over and over. About Jesus. About his love, how he handled situations and people because he always got it right. I can learn from him. Can't be him, but can be better. Matthew is great.
I really thought about verse 45. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous".
Ahhhh, me and my love/hate relationship with facebook. The place
where someone is showing off their
new thousands of dollars toy
(that’s right I called it a TOY and we all have
them) right next to someone who is asking for prayer for a child with cancer.
One person is building huts in
the jungles of Guatemala and another is drinking Mai Tai’s on the beach
in Hawaii.
One person is moving into their
fancy new 4,000 SF home
celebrating a good move/promotion and
another is downsizing,
literally cutting their belongings in half to move into a new home, city and
career due to cutbacks/economy, etc.
First, let me say that I think
buying new “toys” as I called
them is great, vacations are
great, big new beautiful homes are great. There is nothing that says we have to take
a vow of poverty and give everything we have away. (Funny anecdote: I was
told once “every time I think about buying crest white strips
I think I could give that money to missions”. I think of
that every time I buy crest white strips, but I still buy
them. One
man’s sacrificial gift is another’s man gleaming white smile).
I do believe we are
asked to give and help others. But God will put
it in your
heart and you will know what
cause to support and what amount to give. And your giving is up to you and can and should be private. So the person on the beach may have financed that whole trip to Guatemala and the building materials for the huts. I don't know. But it just made this verse stick out to me that while some struggle some flourish.
But...
GOD IS GOOD
In the storm and the drought - which ironically are complete opposites and both represent bad in our lives.
When the unrighteous
people are blessed and
the righteous people
struggle, God is good.
When the righteous people are blessed and the unrighteous people struggle, God is good.
When the righteous people are blessed and the unrighteous people struggle, God is good.
The bonus at work that is a
blessing from God for one man
is the same bonus to the atheist. It rains blessings on both. The layoff for the devout Christian man is the same lack of income for the atheist.
Sometimes I feel a season of drought. I need the storm. I need to realize sometimes it takes a storm to heal the drought.
Sometimes I feel a season of drought. I need the storm. I need to realize sometimes it takes a storm to heal the drought.
And I'm feeling kind of dry, So whether you think you are good or bad, righteous or unrighteous, if it’s raining where you are, would you come stand next to me?
