Today's Reading: Daniel 11; Daniel 12; Luke 6
Scripture: Luke 6:32-36
"If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' lend to 'sinners,' expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful."
Observation: Jesus gives an incredibly difficult challenge to us mortals here. He shares a standard that is so high that without divine intervention, we just can't do it. In fact, this is one of the earmarks of authentic Christianity: it is impossible to do in our human strength. Any system of religion that can be accomplished by people trying really hard is a man-made system. God's true system is beyond our ability. God himself must empower the human or it can't be done.
So Jesus says, "So you're a nice, honest person. You love and do good and even lend to others. That's nice. But that won't help your heavenly credit rating. Anybody can do those things. But how about loving and doing good and lending to your enemies? Without expecting to get anything back? Now if you can do that, your credit rating will soar -- and you'll earn lots of God's Reward points."
Application: Of course, the rub is that humans can't do what Jesus suggests. I mean we could be nice or love or lend to an enemy once or twice, but humans cannot live this kind of radical counterculture lifestyle consistently. And I think it is really hard even with God's help! It seems the point here is that all of us must realize how far short we fall of the kind of amazing person that we can be in God -- the kind of person that Jesus was. And that should cause humility to grow and inspire a hunger and a seeking after more and more of God.
Prayer: Lord help me to fix my heavenly credit rating. I need so much more of you and so much less of me.
This I pray in Jesus' name, Amen.
