I will share about Christian books I have read or listened to.
I will be sharing about my life before and after Christ. I will include stories about my pet and other pets I have encountered.
Let’s Choose Love
Who is your enemy?
Maybe it’s the person across the street who seems to judge everything you do. Maybe it’s the person on social media who hates what you stand for. Maybe it’s someone who doesn’t try to care about you. Or maybe you don’t have “enemies,” but you have people who make you feel angry, frustrated, and inferior.
It’s no secret that our world seems divided. There always seems to be tension in the relational, spiritual, and political climate of our world. And sometimes, it seems impossible to put differences aside and treat people who hurt us with kindness and grace.
But Jesus has called us to live differently. Jesus calls us to “love our enemies, and do good to them.” And then, He demonstrated what this looks like by dying for everyone. He gave up His own life on behalf of people who hated Him … and He didn’t expect anything from them in return.
Every person on this planet—past, present, and future—God loves. And He has called each of us to love others like He loves us: sacrificially, humbly, and unconditionally.
Loving our enemies doesn’t mean we should put ourselves in unhealthy or unsafe situations, nor does it mean we should ignore the pain someone has caused us. But it does mean that we daily seek to represent Jesus by showing people respect, empathy, truth, and grace. It means we acknowledge the pain and the injustice we experience while never ceasing to pray that our enemies personally accept Jesus.
It’s Jesus who showed us what unconditional love and forgiveness looked like when He died for us. It’s Jesus who took Paul, a murderer, and turned him into a great evangelist. It’s Jesus who forgave Peter for denying Him, and set him apart to build the global Church. It’s Jesus who loved religious zealots who betrayed Him, and crowds who tried to kill Him.
When Jesus asks us to love our enemies, He isn’t asking us to do anything that He hasn’t already done first.
Jesus is kind to the “ungrateful and the wicked” and that includes us. So let’s represent Jesus well so that others—even our enemies—want to know Him. Because when people know Him, they won’t want to stay as they are … they will want to become more like Jesus.
Luke 12
“In the mean time, when there were gathered together an innumerable multitude of people, insomuch that they trode one upon another, he began to say unto his disciples first of all, Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known. Therefore whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light; and that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets shall be proclaimed upon the housetops. And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him. Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God? But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows. Also I say unto ...
Our Good Shepherd
Jesus’ “I Am” sayings are powerful statements that give us a look into Jesus' nature and His mission on earth.
First, each statement reveals something about Jesus’ mission on earth. But second, they connect Jesus to God the Father. Jesus’ “I Am” statements connect theologically to Exodus 3:14, when God revealed HImself to Moses as “I Am.”
In John 10, Jesus tells the people that He is the good shepherd. The mark of a good shepherd is that he must be willing to lay down his life for his sheep. Jesus says He is willing to do that.
Jesus’ statement is in contrast to the religious leaders of His day. The religious leaders would often make things very difficult for followers of God. They would add laws and regulations that would keep people from God. Ultimately, they were selfish leaders, considering themselves as more important than the people they were leading.
Jesus points out that the highest qualification of a shepherd is selflessness. Jesus is the ultimate...
