Daily Devotionals
Daily Devotional: Psalms 41:7-13
Ps 41:7-13
7 All my enemies whisper together against me; they imagine the worst for me, saying, 8 "A vile disease has beset him; he will never get up from the place where he lies." 9 Even my close friend, whom I trusted, he who shared my bread, has lifted up his heel against me. 10 But you, O LORD, have mercy on me; raise me up, that I may repay them. 11 I know that you are pleased with me, for my enemy does not triumph over me. 12 In my integrity you uphold me and set me in your presence forever. 13 Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Amen and Amen.
Matt 5:43-45a
43 "You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' 44 But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.
It is easy to love those who love us. It is easy to be kind to those who are kind to us and treat us the way we want to be treated. It is not easy to be kind and to show love to those who hate us and those who lie about us or those who seek to do us harm. The reasoning of Jesus is that God loves us when we don’t deserve to be loved and he is kind to us when we deserve to be punished so if we are going to be like our Father, we need to show the same kind of love and kindness; even when we are being mistreated, hurt and lied about.
Paul said that while we were enemies of God, he loved us and sent his Son to die for our sin. John said that true love is not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his son to be the substitute sacrifice for our sin so we could live with him in eternity. It is a tall order for us to love others as God loves us but he will give us the power to do so if we submit our lives to his will. This in turn will cause us to forgive those who do not deserve to be forgiven; who don’t even admit their sin against us and continue to seek us harm. But this is the love that Jesus showed us when he was on the cross and asked the Father to forgive those who had abused him, tortured him and were putting him to death. This is the love of God.
Heavenly Father, creator and God, I thank you for your love for me when I do not deserve to be loved. Thank you for forgiving me when I was your enemy and had done so much against you. Fill me with your Spirit so your love will be perfected in me as I come to understand your forgiveness, your love and your peace. Thank you for allowing this to drive all fear from my heart and replacing it with the ability to turn all things over to you. Please deal with those who hate me or who would harm me and do what you know is best. Help me just live in such a way as to bring glory to you and to your name in all I do. I pray in the name of Jesus.
Robert
