Matthew 5:43-45a
Silence and stillness before God (2 minutes)
Scripture reading
Scripture reading:
Matthew 5:43-45a
43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbour 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.
Devotional
The thesis of the Sermon on the Mount has been that there is a righteousness available to those in the kingdom of God which surpasses that of the pharisees. It is available to the meek and the poor, the persecuted and the mourners as well as any other type of person who comes to God through faith in Christ. This righteousness (we are taught later by the apostle Paul) is through the perfect death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus himself. The good life is available to all by faith and this life which transforms a person from the inside out actually leads them to act in such a way that could be described as good.
Jesus’ final illustrative contrast between the rightness of the old way compared to the rightness of the new kingdom heart has to do with our attitude towards our enemies. The law of lex-talionis (eye for eye) works to a point—they hate us, we hate them—but this will not do for the good life of the kingdom of the heavens. Jesus says, we are to not only love those close to us but love our enemies. And this love will be demonstrated by the highest act of love which is to pray for them.
Question to consider
Who do you need to start praying for as an act of love that you may be child of your Father in heaven?
Prayer
Lord, you know I have struggled to love certain people in my life. Please help me Father to remove them from my box of contempt and see them as you see them, people worth sending your son Jesus to save. I know that the litmus test of Christianity is love, change my heart I pray that I too might be known by love.
Conclude with silence (2 minutes)
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