Jesus said, "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, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven...If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? ...And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?"
Here's the deal: I've noticed that a lot of middle schoolers who are Christians think it's okay to be mean to people they don't like or have wronged them in some way. They say, "He deserved it." "I'm just teaching her a lesson." "It's nothing compared to what they did to me."
When you know Christ, it is not your job to teach people lessons or give them what they deserve. If you got what you deserve, you would not have the joy of Christ's forgiveness or love. Your job is to show people the same grace that Christ showed you.
As Jesus said, if you only show love to your friends, how does that make you any different than people who don't know Jesus? Everybody can be nice to the people who are nice to them. It's loving the people that are hard to love that is the mark of Christ in you.
Saturday, June 07, 2008
jesus and the people you don't like.
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5 comments:
cool
i like the post. after like the second paragraph, i was thinking that we dont deserve what we got either but the grace was givin to us anyways.
i really like that and really liked the last paragraph the most out of all of it.
Sometimes, it is hard to try and love someone you dislike, but, that doesn't mean you shouldn't try or just give up!
I loved that post Jillian! The second paragraph kind of reminds me about what Nathan and I used to do when we were a little younger.
wow i really like that it is a strong message.
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