Wednesday, January 18, 2017

Agape EVERYONE

You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute youthat you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect(Matthew 5:43-48).
In 1957 Dr. King gave a sermon using these verses. He reminded folks then and reminds us today; we have to LOVE even our enemies, yet we do not have to LIKE them! We may not LIKE what they say or what they do. We must, however, LOVE everyone. We must LOVE even our enemies and pray for them . . .even do good to them with the hope of winning them for Christ. We may have the opportunity to defeat the enemy, yet we must WIN the enemy . . .for JESUS' sake!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

This verse just reminded me of when, some people act up in class, but the whole class gets in trouble, " everyone suffers". "...God sends rain on the just and the unjust..." So, we know all people are equal, we should act that way, too.

God still reigns!