HIS EXPECTATIONS WON’T CHANGE

DAY 252 OF 365 IN 2021

Luke 6:27,28 But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.

Jesus is really a tough task master and so doesn’t make things any easier, not one bit. Reading today’s Gospel brought one conclusion to mind ‘I guess we’re not Christian enough”. Because in a real honest assessment, the things Jesus requires of us are not things that come easily to anyone. Who automatically gets on their knees in prayer and on their list of prayer points places a request for their enemies to do well? Who smiles in the face of their abuser?

What seems normal is to be equally hostile. Thus, ‘an eye for a eye and a tooth for a tooth’ as the the Israelites heard through Moses, often feels like the way to go. Therefore, every shove is often met with a shove, a punch with a punch, and a kick with the same. On many occasions however, what is reciprocated is even disproportionately of a higher magnitude than what was offered.

Nonetheless, Jesus is unrelenting in presenting His message, a message that demands that we cast aside all our natural instincts and assume a rather unnatural stance. Beloved, we ought to be transformed according to the message not the other way round because God’s expectations of us will not change and neither will His standards. Thus, the invitation to do the unusual and the unnatural is reiterated:

“Love your enemies, and be good to everyone who hates you. Ask God to bless anyone who curses you, and pray for everyone who is cruel to you”.

#sly