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Understanding the Love of Christ; Four Simple Questions |
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Posted By: blessings2you
Hear Ye, Hear Ye all who claim to love the Lord Thy God and His Son Jesus Christ. Bear with me as I ask of you some very pointed questions. Be not rash to answer them, but honestly ponder them in your heart. These are the kinds of questions that will be asked of you in the future. Now is the time to properly answer them through speech and lifestyle.
WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN FALSELY ACCUSED, WRONGED OR DESPITEFULLY USED?
a. Get mad so as to try and get even
b. Get depressed and feel sorry for yourself
c. Bless and Pray for the one doing these things
Obviously the correct answer is (c.), but the honest answer is anything except that. Human nature is to either fight fire with fire or gets our feelings hurt when someone does us wrong. However natural these reactions are, they are not what Jesus came to introduce. In Luke 6:27 and 28 it says:
"But I say to you who hear: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,
Bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you."
We say that we want to do what the Lord wants us to do. Well, here is a perfect example of just how simple yet extremely difficult that is. Jesus says to love your enemies and to do good to those who hate you. We say, "it can't be done" or "If I do that my enemy will kill me". I say, so what if he does. Who are we to argue with the Lord and selectively decide which of His commands to keep and not keep.
Jesus said to bless those who curse you and to pray for those who use you out of spite. "But I don't want to" is what most everyone would say. However understandable this is, if we say we want to do what the Lord asks of us, we have to do what He says, no matter if we feel like it or not.
WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN SOMEONE ASKS SOMETHING OF OR FROM YOU?
a. Tell them to go get their own, for you had to work to get yours
b. Make up excuses that indicate you don't have what they want or need
c. Give them what they want and accept no payment for it
Once again the correct answer is (c), but it is extremely difficult for anyone to think this way. If you have worked hard and saved to be able to have something, why should you have to give away to someone who didn't? Yes, that is an honest objection but Jesus laid out a way to love that is always simple but rarely easy to carry out. In Luke 6:30 it says:
"Give to everyone who asks of you. And from him who takes away your goods do not ask them back."
I recently heard of a Christian who got mugged on a subway in New York. The assailant demanded his money. The Christian gave him all he had and the mugger turned to walk away. The Christian called to him to please return. Puzzled, the mugger turned around. The Christian then gave him his wallet with all his credit cards and his watch. He smiled and said, I thought you might need these too. The mugger was so taken back that he asked why the man was doing this. He told him, and the mugger became a Christian that night.
WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN YOU SEE AN OVERWEIGHT OR UNATTRACTIVE "CHRISTIAN"?
a. Immediately think how if they loved Jesus they would lose weight and get their hair cut
b. Immediately pass judgment on their lifestyle, family upbringing and lack of self control
c. Never even notice such things, but get blessed by their smile and loving demeanor
Now this little quiz has reached the point of not being fair. How could anyone not notice someone 80 pounds overweight or whose breath stinks to high heaven? Well, believe it or not, it is available to so condition the mind to not look on the outward appearance that such things never are noticed. Once again it says in Luke 6:37:
"Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven."
None of us are perfect physical specimens. We are either too tall, or too short; too fat or too skinny; too big of feet or too little of hands. Yet, by nature we immediately are drawn to look at and judge the things we don't have to worry about. As natural as this is, it must be changed or we end up being found guilty of judging, condemning and not forgiving. Somehow I think these are far more important matters to the Lord than a person's weight, they style of their hair or how they talk.
WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN OTHERS ADORE YOU, PRAISE YOU AND DO GOOD TO YOU?
a. Respond in kind and love them back
b. Pat yourself on the back for being "the jolly good fellow"
c. Say thank you and immediately find a mean selfish person to share your love with
This is perhaps the most difficult of all these questions for it appears backwards. What could be so wrong with accepting praise and adoration from others? Well, nothing as long as that is not the reason for your giving. Most people go fishing for compliments by complimenting others. Many people will give for the sole reason of receiving. In Luke 6:32-34 Jesus says:
"But if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.
And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.
And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive back, what credit is that to you? For even sinners lend to sinners to receive as much back."
When Jesus presented the whole new way of thinking and living called LOVE; He never said it would be an easy thing to do, let alone master. In fact, it is excruciatingly difficult to grab hold of the mind and make it do exactly opposite what it has been conditioned to do all its life. It is hard to break free from habit patterns that have dictated your thoughts and actions since you were a youngster. It takes hard work to change your thinking. Yet, love dictates we at least give it a try.
Jesus wrapped this all up in one great verse that I would like to leave you with. Please remember these are HIS words, and not mine. In Luke 6:35, 36 Jesus said:
"But love your enemies, do good and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-By 2.5 License
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Posted: 05/06/08 7:04pm - Total Views: 764 - Category: Christian Life
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youaregolden |
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Posted by:
youaregolden 
(Posted: 05/06/08 8:19pm)
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This has got to be one of the BEST blogs I have read lately. Thank you blessings for posting this and helping me to re evaluate my walk and my thoughts. So many times we do things out of selfish ambition and so many times we take offense to things that we shouldn't take offense to. So many times we judge before looking at the plank in our own eye. So many times we look outward before looking inward. And so many times, instead of thanking our Maker for who we are, we soak in all the praise and don't show anyone any.
What stupid fleshly humans we are! But yet, God still loves us and is trying to work in us so we can change our ways and walk in the Spirit, only by His strength and grace though! How awesome!
Thanks for posting this blog! It has blessed me so much!
YSIC,
-Golden 
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allforhim |
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Posted by:
allforhim
(Posted: 05/07/08 3:30am)
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We must examine ourself and check the intents of our heart. We must heed the Holy Spirit and watch for when God might be warning us, we just might end up eating some grass, lol. If we keep our focus on the love of Christ, and what He has done for us, it is much easier to make the right choices, for His Spirit guides us.
Blessings!
Andrea
God is really working on my pride at the moment! 
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battleofbritian |
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Posted by:
battleofbritian 
(Posted: 05/07/08 4:01am)
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Nice,
With regards to being wrongly accused the best advice I heard was this:
If you didn't do it - you dont need a defence.
If you did do it - you dont have a defence.
Either way, you dont need a defence. Try it, next time you hear some slander about you - just forgive it and ignore it abd carry on doing what you were already doing. Its liberating.
Sim.
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kraftykatz |
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Posted by:
kraftykatz
(Posted: 05/07/08 8:18am)
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Thanks for another great blog. You always make me think about my walk with Jesus.
KraftyKatz
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blackrose65 |
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Posted by:
blackrose65
(Posted: 05/12/08 10:07am)
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nice blog... to be honest in answering question 4, one should take the compliment with grace and then find a way to spread the love.
IN my walk with the Lord I found it rather to answer 2 and 3 in a biblical fashion and while I believed I could answer 1 in a biblical fashion, it took time for my heart to agree with my spirit.
keep on bloggin'
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aliveinchrist13 |
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Posted by:
aliveinchrist13
(Posted: 07/23/08 9:45pm)
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Great Blog!!! Every day, every hour, every minute we have to make decisions based upon our life in this fallen world. When we remember verses like this it makes our decisions easier and much more rewarding! Thank you for blessing me with such a great post.
Lance
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Member Biography |
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In 1969 I was miraculously saved by an act of God's super abounding grace and mercy when I was 16 years old at a church youth group work trip in New Mexico. I was changed from a very troubled introverted teenager on the brink of many major mental and emotional...
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