Choose love over hate

Good morning everyone,

Our theme for this month: “God’s power in you and for you”

Our Bible verse for today: “But I say to you who listen: Love your enemies, do what is good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.” Luke 6:27-28 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Choose love over hate”

In Luke 6:27-28 Jesus told us to do something that is very hard – especially in a society like ours that is filled with so much anger and hate. Our natural tendency when we are ridiculed, attacked, or treated unfairly is to punch back; match their angry rhetoric with angry rhetoric of our own; respond to their mistreatment of us by mistreating them back. But is that effective? Is it Biblical?

In Luke 6:27-28 Jesus told us to respond to their anger with demonstrations of His love. In Romans 12:14;17 the Apostle Paul wrote, “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse … Do not repay anyone evil for evil.” In 1 Peter 3:9 we read, “… not paying back evil for evil or insult for insult but, on the contrary, giving a blessing …” And in Proverbs 25:21-22 Solomon wrote, “If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat, and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink; for you will heap burning coals on his head, and the Lord will reward you.”

Those are just a handful of Scriptures that speak to the issue. There are many more but the Lord’s point is clear, we are not to respond to them by being like them. We are to respond to them by being like Jesus.

That does not mean that you are to be a doormat or a verbal punching bag. Of course, you can take the actions necessary to protect yourself and your family; and you can cut abusive people out of your life and refuse to have anything more to do with them; and you can respond to the lies being told with the truth. It’s not that we can’t respond, it’s a matter of how we respond.

As author John Eldredge observed, “Hatred has become the new “spirit of the age;” the mounting tensions in this country are symptoms of a much deeper reality.” That deeper reality is the spiritual warfare Paul described in Ephesians 6:12, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against evil, spiritual forces in the heavens.” People aren’t the real enemy, Satan is. Satan is the deeper reality, and we defeat the hatred of Satan with the love of Jesus.

The power of God’s love to defeat Satan’s hatred is very real, but we will have to choose love over hate.

God bless,
Pastor Jim

(If you like what you’re reading in these daily devotionals and if you would like more content from Oak Hill Baptist Church, join us on Sundays at 10:00 – in-person if you are nearby or, if you are geographically distant or if you just can’t make it, online at www.YouTube.com/@oakhillbaptistcrossville

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