MATTHEW 5:44

But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,

TO PONDER

I was talking to someone recently about God’s judgement and he liked the idea of the ancient Egyptians where the deceased's heart was weighed against the feather of Ma'at by Anubis to determine passage to the afterlife. I guess we are conditioned by our society that there is a pass mark for us to be accepted by God.

Jesus needed us to understand that the pass mark set by God was so high that we humans could never achieve it. To help us understand this, he often gave us examples of His pass mark. Earlier in this chapter of Matthew, Jesus gives examples of his standards with respect to hatred, lust, deception and revenge; and then this one on relationships with people we don’t get along with or who are hurting us.

Jesus’ aim here was not to get us to try harder, because He knew - as we slowly learn as we experience life - that trying harder often only leads to failure and guilt and discouragement and finally defeat.

Jesus wants us first of all to accept that we cannot meet His standards by our own efforts. He has already met His own infinitely high standards when he lived here on earth, and He has attributed that perfection to us. So, now, we can stop trying.

What!? I can stop trying to be good and live by God’s standards. Yes! However, God does still want us to be shining lights of His love and commitment to all people. So, how do we resolve this apparent conundrum. God’s answer is surrender; surrender into God’s vision and plan for our lives. God’s plans for our lives are far more rewarding than anything that we might think up. We don’t know the future and we cannot plan for what challenges we might meet. But God does know the future and wants us to first experience the excitement of being part of the Heavenly family consisting of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and be involved in the family business.

And He provides the training that we need to be able to do what he asks us – through Holy Spirit living in us. It is a gradual process, first in the surrender part, because we cannot really surrender to God until we grow in trusting His love and goodness and commitment to us. 

What I have found helpful is to talk to God about my fears, failures and lack of faith, fully acknowledging them, and then handing them over to God to change me through the working of Holy Spirit in my life. And also, not to stress about my failures. I know that Jesus has already dealt with my failures, but for some reason, I find it hard to let go of them. It is all part of growing into surrendering my life and future to my loving Heavenly Family.

Prayer: Heavenly Family, thank You that You have a plan and purpose for my life, and thank You for the way You are working in my life to grow me into the person you want me to be. I surrender all I am and have into Your plans for me, knowing that I will regularly grab back control of parts of my life out of fear and mistrust in Your love for me. Thank You that You are not offended by this and will keep loving and growing me. Amen

Today's devotion written by Charles Bertelsmeier, LifeWay Epping