Tough Love…
Today’s devotion builds on the thoughts from Sunday’s Sermon – Week 4 of “Fan or Follower – Deal with Division” (LISTEN HERE).
Tough love.
I’m not talking about doing something for a person that will really help even when that person doesn’t want it. I’m talking about loving someone who hates you and in the moment stands in opposition to you.
It’s tough to love.
Jesus challenges our paradigm and our actions when it comes to our enemies:
Matthew 5:43 “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 sons 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 brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
What helps us meet this challenge is to reflect on both the love the Father has shown to us, and the love he shows to others. Read Romans 5:6-10 slowly.
Romans 5:6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! 10 For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!
Did you catch our status when God loved us?
Ungodly.
Sinner.
Enemy.
Let me guess. If someone said, “Mike, I have someone here who is ungodly, a sinner, AND your enemy. I’d like you to spend your day with him showing him around town and buying him dinner and anything he wants.”
What would you do?
Love an ungodly sinner who is my enemy?
Tough love.
Yet, that is the very love that God showed to us in Christ. While we were ungodly, enemy sinners, Christ died for us. Christ lived his life for us. Christ showed his love for us.
This is how we are to love ungodly, enemy sinners in our lives.
Tough love.
But that’s why God loved us first. So in turn we could love others.
Apply: Who fits the description as an ungodly, enemy sinner in your life? What is one small act of love or kindness you might show to them?
Prayer: Lord God, thank you for loving me when I was your enemy. Empower me to show this same type of love to those I perceive as my enemies. AMEN.
Release the Rage!
Today’s devotion builds on the thoughts from Sunday’s Sermon – Week 4 of “Fan or Follower – Deal with Division” (LISTEN HERE).
When is the last time that a problem has been solved through rage and revenge?
The last time you had an argument/fight in your marriage…did rage solve it?
The last time an individual expressed rage against a political policy or figure, did the issue resolve?
The last time someone cut you off in traffic and you reacted in rage…did it make the other person or you a better driver?
The Proverbs say this, (Proverbs 29:11) Fools give full vent to their rage, but the wise bring calm in the end.
Here’s a story I mentioned in the message yesterday of Bud Welch (his daughter was killed in the Alfred Murrah Federal Building Bombing in Oklahoma City in 1995. She was 23, not 3 as I mentioned in the sermon …sorry for the mistake!)
Bud Welch fought his rage and desire for retribution when his daughter Julie was killed along with 167 other people in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. Welch had opposed the death penalty before his daughter was killed, but he reversed his stance as he tried to cope with his loss in the weeks following the bombing.
“People used to tell me, particularly when Julie hit her teenage years, that ‘Bud, you’d change your mind [about the death penalty] if your daughter was murdered,’ ” Welch said. “After the bombing, I was so full of revenge and retribution, I didn’t even want a trial for [Oklahoma City bombers] McVeigh and [Terry] Nichols. I thought the federal government and prosecutors were useless and I just wanted them fried.”
Welch, who owned a service station in Oklahoma City at the time, said he was so grief-stricken and had such a hard time dealing with his loss that he would go home and drink to try to get himself to fall asleep. His drinking gradually increased.
One day, about 10 months after Julie’s death, Welch went to the bomb site — which he routinely visited because that was the last place where his daughter was alive — and began to examine himself and search for a way to get past his grief. He found that he was being consumed that the same rage and thirst of revenge that had driven McVeigh and Nichols to blow up the Murrah Federal Building and kill his daughter.
“I finally asked myself three questions: Do I need to have a trial right away? Do I need to have a conviction? Do I need to have McVeigh and Nichols executed?” Welch said. “I came to the conclusion that none of those things needed to be part of the healing process I had to go through to get past this and stop the alcohol abuse and stop smoking three packs of cigarettes a day.
“It was hate and retribution that drove McVeigh and Nichols. They were getting revenge for what happened in Waco, Texas, exactly two years earlier on April 19, 1993″ — when U.S. government agents began storming the Branch Davidian compound, and the sect’s stronghold went up in flames.
“It was out of rage and retribution that Julie and so many fine people are dead today,” Welch said. “After I began to realize what drove McVeigh and Nichols, I realized that I didn’t want to let my rage and revenge get out of control like it did with them.”
Bud Welch was able to release his rage and bring calm through wisdom given to him. It is just one practical example of why the Lord encourages us as we follow him to release our rage. The Apostle Paul writes, Ephesians 4:31-32, Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
Again our example and forgiveness is in Christ. He released his rage against us and the world and chose instead to love and forgive.
Challenging? Absolutely! Yet our soul is blessed with calm, forgiveness and peace when the Spirit enables us to release our rage.
Apply: Is there a situation past or present that still causes rage in your heart? What might happen as the Spirit releases you from that rage and replaces it with compassion and forgiveness?
Prayer: Lord forgive me when my heart is filled with rage. Replace my rage with your compassion, love and forgiveness. AMEN.
Can’t I hate my enemies?
Today’s devotion builds on the thoughts from Sunday’s Sermon – Week 4 of “Fan or Follower – Deal with Division” (LISTEN HERE).
I wish Jesus had said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth’…I tell you, ‘I agree!’”
I wish Jesus had said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy’…I tell you, ‘I agree!’”
In the judicial world of Israel, and perhaps any society, “you do the crime, you do the time.” Some judicial punishments are more separation from society and some are more separation from some part of your physical body. Each is a deterrent for the perpetrator to do something more or to harm someone else.
Judicial codes and systems are necessary and should a Christian choose to use the judicial system to bring justice to a wrong that was incurred, there is nothing wrong with it.
However, the challenge is this: WE want to play judge and jury AND executioner!
We want the “right” to settle the score and get even with people who wrong us. We don’t want to wait for the judicial system. We don’t want to wait for someone else to act. WE want to make sure the person who hurt us is hurt the same or worse as we were, and are willing or wishing to carry it out ourselves.
Revenge is rage in our heart that desires retribution for wrong that was done to us. Revenge is most often triggered when we perceive, and often rightly so, that what happened was not deserved. Injustice desires justice. Revenge seeks swift ‘justice’!
That’s why we wish Jesus would give permission to hate our enemies and extract revenge however we see fit. We want to feel justified to make the person who hurt us, hurt worse.
But Jesus didn’t say the above. Instead he said this:
Matthew 5:39 But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. 40 And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. 41 If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. 42 Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.
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 sons of your Father in heaven.
Tough, for sure.
But a follower of Christ follows the example of Christ.
The Apostle Peter was more than ready to extract revenge. As Jesus was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, he was quick to take out his sword and swing at the nearest person. The servant of the high priest ended up with his ear cut off. Jesus healed it and reprimanded Peter for “living by the sword.”
Years later as Peter reflected on these events and was inspired to write his letters, he shared this observation about Jesus:
1 Peter 2:23 When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.
Of anyone who walked the planet, Jesus had the right to carry our revenge and retribution, yet he chose to not engage and entrust himself to the one, his Father, who would judge justly.
Jesus did not seek revenge. He instead loved and forgave. He hung on the cross for the very ones that were seeking to hurt him. He forgave the ones who unjustly nailed him to the cross. He did this not just as an example, but to bring forgiveness to us.
He went to the cross to receive the revenge for sin that we deserved from our holy, righteous God in heaven. God hurt his Son so he would not have to hurt us for our sin.
And…so we could do the same to those that hurt us.
So, to the ones that hurt you, love them as God has loved you.
Apply: What happens when ruminations of revenge are replaced with prayer and love toward the one that hurt you?
Prayer: Lord Jesus thank you for taking the vengeance of the Father for my sin, so that I would not have to. Thank you for showing your love to me so I might show the same to those who hurt me. AMEN.
Who is my enemy?
Today’s devotion builds on the thoughts from Sunday’s Sermon – Week 4 of “Fan or Follower – Deal with Division” (LISTEN HERE).
“You have heard that it was said, “Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”
In Jesus’ ministry there was an individual who felt he had done pretty well at keeping the law of God. He felt he was loving God with all his heart, soul, mind and strength. However, he wanted to make sure he was doing well at “love your neighbor as yourself.” When he asked, “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus responded with the parable of the Good Samaritan. The answer? Anyone who has a need is my neighbor and is an opportunity to love.
How come Jesus didn’t teach a parable on “Who is my enemy?”
I wish he did because that is the question that comes up in my mind to “justify” how well I am doing at what Jesus teaches in Matthew 5:43-44.
Maybe the parable of the Good Samaritan would answer the question as well.
However, who is your enemy?
We know from Jesus’ teaching who is NOT our enemy.
Jesus said “If you love those who love you, what reward will you get?” (Matthew 5:46)
An enemy is not someone who will love you back. So an enemy is someone who is hard to love because you KNOW there will be no loving response back. The phrase, “Extra love opportunity” might apply to these situations.
We know from Jesus’ teaching who IS our enemy (or potentially our enemy).
Since this behavior (to love our enemies) is modeled by the Father, Jesus teaches that he loves the evil and the unrighteous.
So an enemy can be anyone who perpetrates or promotes evil and anyone who is not following the ways of the Lord (unrighteous).
The potential is that at any point in our lives, ANYONE can be our enemy. As sinful human beings, we all have the potential to enact evil and we all have done that which is unrighteous.
As always, Jesus digs deeper than the surface. An enemy is not just someone that serves in an opposing military against our military. An enemy is not just a criminal that seeks to do evil against us.
An enemy is any one who harms us physically, emotionally, or spiritually and against whom we are tempted to wish, perpetrate or feel evil or hatred against.
The question that will challenge us this week is when that “enemy” shows up in our lives will we seek revenge or seek to repair the relationship?
The temptation will be to seek revenge. The challenge will be to repair.
With the Lord’s help we will let go of revenge and repair with love.
Apply: What relationship in your life today would you classify as an “enemy” relationship? What are your thoughts and feelings about that person? How are you tempted to respond? How is God calling you to respond?
Prayer: Lord thank you for all the people in my life, even the ones that show up as enemies. For in these relationships I get to model the love you have shown to me. While we were still enemies (sinners) you loved me. Help me to do the same. AMEN.
Remember who and whose you are!
Today’s devotion builds on the thoughts from Sunday’s Sermon – Week 3 of “Fan or Follower – Practice Purity” (LISTEN HERE).
1 Corinthians 6:19 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.
While I used this passage earlier in the week, I would like to finish with it.
When engaging in issues of gender, sex and marriage, remember who you are and whose you are.
You are a loved child of God.
Often times issues of gender and sex are sparked by a desire to be loved and accepted by others or even able to accept yourself. While I don’t remember the details, I remember the gist of a comment made by an individual who spent years in the homosexual community and now has left that life style and is honoring the Lord with his life.
He indicated that many of the men he ran into were traumitized sexually as kids/youth and simply looking for love and acceptance.
I have heard this more than once in regard to many in the LGBTQIA+ community. Some sexual trama has led them to find their identity, worth and significance in another identity or partnership.
On the one hand, who can blame them. The soul, the human spirit yearns to be loved and accepted and have value and worth.
The solution is shallow when we look outside the framework of God’s love and grace. So the Lord invites us to seek our identity in him as a dearly loved child of God.
Some may use this line of thinking as an excuse, “God wants me to be happy.” Yes, but the ultimate happiness is found when we simply trust we are fearfully and wonderfully made…as we are, not as we wish we could be. Happiness is found when we rest our identity in the blood of Christ, not in changing who we are or in who and how others accept us.
You are a precious soul who belongs to God.
You have ultimate value as you were made and created. The proof of this was the arms of Jesus outstretched on the cross for you. He redeemed you, a lost and condemned person, purchased and won me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil; not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death, that I may be His own and live under Him in His kingdom and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, just as He is risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity. (Luther’s explanation to the 2nd Article of the Apostles’ Creed)
I know these issues can get complicated, but Paul grounds us in our thinking and understanding to realize that we don’t need to change genders to be loved and accepted or find our true self, we need to find love, acceptance and our true self in our Savior and the Spirit of God who dwells in us. We don’t need to give our bodies to buy a friend or satisfy a sexual craving or prove to someone our beauty and worth. We give our lives to the Lord who will never leave us or forsake us, will always love us and always be there for us. And when the time is right or as we have been blessed with a spouse, we can thank God for the gift of a spouse willing to commit their lives to us.
Gender, sex and marriage are a gift of God and, as with any blessing, God desires to give you the ultimate happiness and joy through his design for them.
Apply: What happens when you find your identity and value in the Lord?
Prayer: Lord thank you for giving of yourself to purchase us. You prove to us our value. Thank you Spirit of God for taking up residence in our heart. You give our life meaning. Thank you Father for calling me your child. You give me my identity. AMEN.