Matthew 5:44-45
But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your father in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust.
This phrase from Jesus must be one of the most misquoted passages in the entire bible. The phrase "the sun shines on the righteous" with the rest of the sentence missing is used to justify a karma-like idea. What goes around comes around. Good things will happen to good people. This is exactly the opposite of the point Jesus is making.
As soon as we start to think about loving our enemies we will start to think "why should I?". The answer Jesus gives is because that is what God does. He makes the sun shine on the righteous AND the unrighteous, he sends rain on the people who love him and the people who hate him. God loves his enemies. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
3 comments:
Amen. Amen. The more I learn about God, the more I realize that he loves us even though we don't deserve it in any way. "By His stripes we are healed." That means that those stripes were destined for ME - when you realize that He took the punishment that YOU deserved, it changes the way that you look at everything! There is no way that we can merit, earn nor deserve what He did for us!
Your post spoke to me. Thank you.
Completely agree. Our job as Christians is to correct those comments and opens the door to witness Christ's love.
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