True Love

The Love Of Our FatherGod's love is so overwhelming, he loves us totally, however hateful, sinful andunworthy we are. There is no way to express this love in our own lives exceptby modelling ourselves on Christ, the heavenly man, and loving our enemies ashe loves them. It is then that we are most like our Father in heaven.

Look Into Your Own HeartA young businessman began dating a charming young actress. The relationshipprogressed and developed until it reached the point when the businessman wasconsidering the possibility of marrying the young woman. Being a very cautiousbusinessman, he hired a private detective to check out the young actress, toensure there weren't any skeletons in her closet.The detective knew nothing of the relationship; in fact, he was just given theyoung woman's name. He did his work very thoroughly, and finally submitted theresults of his investigation. It went something like this: "This is a verycharming, honest, and upright young lady. There seems to be but one blemish onher character. It appears that, of late, she has been keeping company with ayoung businessman of very doubtful character, and of questionablereputation."-

"Hypocrite! First get rid of the beam out of your own eye, and then youcan see the speck in your brother's eye." (Mt 7:5)- When I point one finger at another, there are three fingers pointing at me.Luke 6:27Jesus said to his disciples: "I say this to you who are listening: Loveyour enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, prayfor those who treat you badly. To the man who slaps you on one cheek, presentthe other cheek too; to the man who takes your cloak from you, do not refuseyour tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and do not ask for your propertyback from the man who robs you. Treat others as you would like them to treatyou. ____________________

"Who is God to you?"It was not an easy question to answer. 'The Love Of The Father', the one who welcomes all people to himself, regardlessof how sinful, hateful or unworthy we are. Jesus is the revelation of that loveof the Father, for in Jesus' lifetime, he welcomed all people to himself, nomatter how sinful, hateful or unworthy they were.Jesus, gave some instructions to his disciples. He taught them to love everyone,including those who wish to do them harm. It is a difficult teaching. Indeed,it is probably the most difficult teaching that Jesus ever gave to hisdisciples. Indeed, it is a teaching that applies only to Jesus' true disciples,i.e. those who truly want to become like their master. It is so tempting to water down Jesus' teachings. We can reason that when Jesussays to turn the other cheek, he doesn't really mean it. We can reason thatwhen Jesus says do not ask for your property back from the man who robs you, hedoesn't really mean it. But this entire passage is so full of difficultteachings that it is hard to imagine that Jesus didn't really mean what hesaid. It's hard to imagine that Jesus, after saying all this, would tell hisdisciples, "No, I'm kidding. What I really mean is..."Jesus asks us to do good to those who do us harm, and to do good to those whowill continue to do us harm. David demonstrates this love for his enemy, bysparing the life of his greatest enemy. It cannot have been easy for David todo it... and it wasn't. But he did it nonetheless. He didn't do it because he expected to be rewarded for sparing the life of anenemy. He did it because Saul was God's anointed. Jesus challenges us today todo the same. He challenges us to do good to those who would do us harm, not inthe hope that the person would realise his mistake and change his ways, not inthe hope that the person would be grateful to us and give things to us, noteven in the hope that the person would stop harassing us.But in the love of the person who, however hateful, sinful and unworthy he orshe is, is also loved by God. And by loving the person, it means we do what isin the best interests of that person.It is not easy, and we may fail many times in our lives. But one thing thathelps us is that whenever we are tempted to think that the other person is notworthy of our efforts to love, is to remember that when another person looks atus, he could be thinking the same of us. We wouldn't want that, now would we?
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Prayer:Dear Lord, today I pray for _______ (fill in the name of your greatestpersecutor), who has been a pain in the neck to me. I pray that your HolySpirit may reveal to me his good points and that you may help me to see justwhat you find so lovable in him/her, so that I may be able to grow to lovehim/her as you do. I ask for forgiveness for the times that I have wishedhim/her bad, or spoken bad things about him/her. Help me, Lord, to be a truedisciple of yours. Amen..