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.
Loving Difficult People
Matthew 5-7 is often referred to as The Sermon on the Mount, which is a series of teachings that Jesus gives near the beginning of His ministry. Most of what Jesus talks about is not necessarily new teaching, but rather a reorientation of how the Jewish people understood the Old Testament laws.
The command to love your neighbor was a common one. It is easy to love people who are close to us. It’s also easy to love those who are similar to us, and even those who love us as well.
But Jesus’ command isn’t just to love those who are easy to love. Jesus says we should also love our enemies. We should love the people who are least deserving of our love.
He also says to pray for those who persecute us. This isn’t a prayer for them to stay away, but rather a prayer for their good. We should be praying for the salvation of those who intend us harm, asking that they would recognize their actions and turn to God.
There are two clear reasons why we should show love to our enemies:
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This is how God treated us. When we were enemies of God, He still showed love to us. He gave us breath and life, and also sent Jesus to restore our relationship with Him.
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Showing love to our enemies is a counter-cultural action that displays God’s love for them. Romans 12:20-21 tells us that when we love our enemies, we can overcome evil with good. Loving someone who is mean to us provides a way for God’s love to reach those who are far away.
Take a moment to consider some people in your life who are difficult to love. Begin by praying for them. Pray for their salvation if they’re not Christians, and pray for their wellbeing. Think of one or two ways you can show love to your enemies and share the hope of Jesus.
Look at the Fruit
Imagine you have two seeds in your hand, but you can only plant one...
One seed grows easily, but it produces ugly, terrible tasting fruit. Cultivating the other seed takes time and consistent attention—but the fruit it produces is beautiful and delicious.
Which seed would you choose to plant, water, and grow?
In Galatians 5, the apostle Paul talks about two types of fruit that our lives can produce: fruit of the flesh and fruit of the Spirit.
“The flesh” refers to our unchecked desires that pull us away from God’s Spirit. Those desires produce hate, impatience, bitterness, selfishness, chaos, anxiety, and self-indulgence—and God has no association with such things.
But when we commit our lives to Jesus, He gives us His own Spirit. The power of the Holy Spirit helps us “crucify” the desires of our flesh and put them to death. And when we crucify those desires, we create room for the Holy Spirit to produce good fruit in our lives—fruit that leads to positive ...
