February 9, 2000
GREAT QUESTIONS OF THE BIBLE:
"If you love those who love you, what credit is that?"
Luke 6:32
___No credit! That's the answer to this week's question. If you love those who love you (6:32), and do good to those who do good to you (6:33), and lend to those who will surely repay you (6:34), what credit is that to you? No credit! You're not acting any better than a non-Christian.
___Jesus is looking for another kind of person. A "second mile" kind of person. A personwho surprises the crowd by going the extra mile. This person loves his enemies, does good to those who hate him, blesses
MARK BUMPUS
Pastor, First Baptist Church, Mineral Wells
those who curse him and prays for those who mistreat him (6:27-28). He does the unexpected. This is the kind of Christian who is winsome and gains the attention of a skeptical, cynical, disbelieving world.
___Such a person is inoculated with the love, joy, peace and mercy of Jesus. Some people have too much religion and too little Jesus. It makes them somber and gloomy and a pain to be around. They really don't do anything more than the unconverted.
___But the kind of person Jesus is looking for is filled with a loving contagiousness that makes you want to be around them. These are the kind of people that some in the first century accused of being drunk (Acts 2:15). They weren't drunk; they were joyful! Have you been so genuinely joyful lately that somebody accused you of being drunk?
___The kind of love that fills the heart of the "second mile" Christian is intentional, not emotional. The way you love your enemies and treat those who give you difficulty is to act intentionally in their best interests. You do this whether you feel like doing it or not. Jesus didn't tell us to "feel" love toward our enemies, but to act obediently toward them. This is an act of the will, not an act of emotion--and you can do that every time, if you just will.
___So, when that community acquaintance makes that snide remark about you, when your neighbor lies about you, when your competitor is jealous of you, when your opponent is smugly victorious over you, when your colleague is condescending toward you, when your aging parent is contrary with you, when your adolescent child is disagreeable toward you, when your spouse is irritable with you--surprise them by loving them!
___Such "love" is never easy. It is demanding, it is exhausting--the Apostle Paul called it a "labor of love" (1 Thessalonians 1:3)--but it is redemptive, healing and powerful.
___What credit is there for you to be a "second mile" Christian? Much credit! Your reward will be great (6:35). And you will demonstrate that you are kin to God (6:35)!
Previous Columns: 7/14, 7/21, 7/28, 8/4, 8/11, 8/18, 8/25, 9/1, 9/8, 9/15, 9/22, 9/29, 10/6, 10/13, 10/20 10/27, 11/17, 11/24, 12/1,12/15, 12/1,1/5, 1/12. 1/19, 1/26, 2/2.
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