SCRIPTURE: Luke 6:35 [Jesus speaking] “But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. 36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”
OBSERVATION: What an amazing truth is dropped here at the end of this verse: “…because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.” We know that is true, but seldom contemplate it or even try to emulate it. God is kind to the ungrateful! Isn’t He though! He is kind to the wicked, even to the point of offering his forgiveness. What a merciful God!
Then He adds in verse 36: “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” God wants me to be like Him!
APPLICATION: “But that is impossible,” you say. …and you are right. God knows that we cannot be as merciful as He is…so He sent His Son, Jesus, to die in payment for our sins. But being forgiven does not make me merciful. So He sent the Holy Spirit to live the Christ-life in me. He is the expert because he lived in Jesus while Jesus was living where I now live.
So, the same Spirit that was living and ministering through Jesus, now lives in us! Now Jesus is living in us through the ministry of the Holy Spirit! As I learn to surrender my heart and my thoughts to Him, He lives His merciful life in and through me…His loving life, His forgiving life, His kind live, His giving life,…etc.
PRAYER: Holy Spirit, as you live in me, help me to see things like Jesus does. Help me, like Jesus, to be kind and loving, forgiving and merciful to those around me. When people get to know me, may they be drawn to Jesus. Amen
Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity!
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