Have you ever had some person in authority over you who told you what to do but wasn’t willing to do that thing themselves? Maybe it was the coach who was terribly out of shape, but blowing the whistle for you to keep running and pushing yourself in the weight room. Maybe it was the art teacher who mysteriously never drew anything. Or maybe for some of you it was a parent or even a pastor that expected and demanded a level of behavior and perfection that you later found out they weren’t keeping themselves. It can be a devastating thing to find out that they people you respect and follow aren’t who you thought they were. It can be frustrating to have to live up to a standard your authorities can’t or won’t uphold. That’s one thing I love about Jesus. He lived the kind of life we never could. His heart was pure and His moral perfection was complete. The hardest things He ever asked us to grow into are things He not only lived out, but they are things He lived out with us. Jesus said we are supposed to love our enemies and do good to those who hate us. Now, that is about the most demanding and difficult thing you could ever ask of a person, but Jesus didn’t just blow the whistle and expect us to do it. No, first, He loved us when we were against Him. In Romans 5, Paul says we were reconciled to Him when we were His enemies. He did good to us when we hated Him and now His love is changing us and making us able to grow and love the unloveable as well.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment