And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise. For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them. And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same. And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for He is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful. Luke, Chapter 6, verses 31-36.
God is telling us He wants us to be nice, considerate and giving to everyone, especially those who aren’t nice, considerate and giving to us. He says it’s easy to be giving to people who are nice to us, so that’s not very difficult. We are really doing a bigger thing when we are giving to those we don’t care for, those who aren’t nice to us or those who don’t look like people we would ever associate with. I can’t say I always do this, but I pray that God gives me the willingness to be the example that He wants me to be to others, especially those I’m reluctant to interact with.
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This noteworthy conversation is with Annie, a blogger friend.
(Debbie) You often say God is Sovereign. I'm not exactly sure what that means when you say it that way. Would you mind explaining it to me?
Annie: "The sovereignty of God is the biblical teaching that all things are under God's rule and control, and that nothing happens without His direction or permission. If you read the first two chapters of Job you will see that God allowed Satan to test Job (God knew Job would remain faithful). Even though God allowed Satan to test Job, God also put limits on Satan as to how far he could go. In other words, God has Satan on a leash. He can go no further than God allows. In Psalm 139 we see that we can go nowhere to hide from God. God sees us not only in the present, but has knitted us together in our mother's womb and planned every single day of our lives before we were born. He also numbered our days and even determined the places we would live (Acts 17:26-28). He knows when we get up and when we sit down. He knows the number of hairs on our head. (He must also keep track when we lose some) as I am getting thin in one spot. He knows what is best for us because He can see the end from the beginning and everything inbetween. Even in answering prayer, we wonder why some things take so long to see an answer? God is probably arranging all the details to bring His answer together. We know He often uses others and even certain situations to answer some prayers. Just think how amazing even this little bit of information is! There is so much more to His sovereignty that is in the Bible and probably even more to get to know when we get to heaven. It is amazing enough that Jesus is keeping the Sun from getting to close or too far away from the earth. Too far away and we freeze. Too close and we burn. This is not to even mention keeping planets, stars, and all that the universe is filled with from crashing into each other. I don't think our minds are capable, in our human body, to even come near to fully understanding all the amazing attributes, the sovereignty, the omnipotence, the omnipresence, and omniscience of God.
Just think of all the languages in the world and people praying from all over the world in all different languages at the same time and God listening to them all at the same time in hundreds of different languages. This is while holding the world and the universe together and watching us. Boggling...I cannot even wrap my mind around it, can you? To look at a medical pictures of the human organs and the vessels and the systems of the body etc., and not see an amazing, intelligent designer? Impossible! How can anyone believe in evolution or any of this happening by accident?
Even more amazing is the fact that God knows I will mess up down the road but He doesn't stop loving me, nor does He give up on me. He knows I am but dust, so has given us the Holy Spirit to empower and enable and direct us. On top of this He has given us the throne of grace (Hebrews) to go to, to confess and receive forgiveness for daily sins, encourages us to "press on" walking by the Spirit.
Even more amazing is the fact that God knows I will mess up down the road but He doesn't stop loving me, nor does He give up on me. He knows I am but dust, so has given us the Holy Spirit to empower and enable and direct us. On top of this He has given us the throne of grace (Hebrews) to go to, to confess and receive forgiveness for daily sins, encourages us to "press on" walking by the Spirit.
What I have told you about the sovereignty of God is very little compared to what the entire Bible holds. And what the entire Bible holds is probably very little compared to what we will find out about one day in heaven." You can see Annie's blog at: weeklybiblepassages.blogspot.com
This is
a connection I've made from this Bible passage. Please share your
connections below under comments.
