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But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness Gal 5:22 |
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Dear
Friend,
If you do not already have a habit of gathering daily manna the first thing in the morning (we can look at the example given to us in Exodus 16 and find the pattern for collecting daily manna), make it a habit. Establish your life and your schedule to allow you the necessary time to do your daily collection first thing every morning to give you the strength to make it through the day. And remember that today’s manna will not be sufficient for tomorrow; tomorrow’s manna must be collected tomorrow morning. Saturday, February 25, 2017
Today's Passage : Subject :Sermon on the Mount - Love Your Enemies [1] Bible Verse :Matthew 5:43-48 (ESV) "“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” " Message:
In verses 38-42, which we read two days ago, Christ told us not to resist evil people: If someone sues us for our shirt, we just give it to them, and offer them our coat. Here he develops and extends this theme. In the previous verses, he told us how we must behave. But his primary message, remember, is that we must change our hearts, and here he teaches how we must feel towards those who wrong us.
First, we must understand the meaning of “love”, for English, a language ordinarily rich in synonyms, uses the single word “love” to denote several different emotions. Greek had four different words which are translated as “love” in English:
Eros, or romantic love. To illustrate the point about how inexact and overbroad is the English usage, consider that people are reduced to saying, “I love him but I'm not in love with him” to distinguish between two very different feelings towards a boyfriend.
Storge, which was used primarily among family members. It includes feelings of affection and attachment. Oddly, it would be the correct word for the way many people feel about their dog or cat!
Philia, the feeling one has for a close friend. The word “love” was commonly used to describe this feeling before 1900; but the usage has fallen out of favor, as have the words “fond” and “fondness”.
Agape, the word used here, denotes an unchangeable benevolence. We might say, I love Yale University, or I love my church. Or, to the point of today's Scripture, we might say, “I love people.” Both agape and storge might be used about someone or something one doesn't particularly admire or get along with.
To understand what Christ is saying about agape, think about a person who loves whales; who dedicates his life to saving them from destruction. If a whale attacks his boat and turns it over, killing several of his friends, he is still going to love whales. He loves them for what they are and forgives them if what they do causes him personal damage.
In fact, a hunter might agape-love the animal he hunts. This is the reported state of many native American tribes, who had to hunt to survive, but who would ask forgiveness of the animal they killed.
This raises a practical point, for although Christians are taught to forgive even the most heinous of acts, it does not mean a criminal cannot be imprisoned. But where this is done, it must be done without vengeance or self-righteousness, and only for the good of the criminal. Hypocrisy is unfortunately the rule here. People say “it's for your (or his) own good” while harboring other motives.
Continued tomorrow . . .
Note: The Latin noun “caritas”, translated “charity” in the KJV Bible and “love” in many later translations, is identical to the noun form of the Greek “agape”.
Meditation : Prayer : pray that I may be blessed every step of my path this day by the great God of light. May your sun shine upon me; as the moon moves the tide, may your Spirit move my emotions with every grace and magic; may my heart sing with the voice of your angels and my hearth be warm; and may this and every blessed day You have given me be filled with joy. .Amen |
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