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But They Don't Deserve It
Tim Savage13You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. 14For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Galatians 5
Sometimes this isn’t easy. Sometimes I don’t want to love my neighbor as myself. Sometimes I don’t feel like my neighbor deserves my love. But, that’s not what the Word says. It doesn’t say, love your neighbor if you feel like they deserve it, or, love your neighbor if they have earned it. The Word commands that we love our neighbors as ourselves. And who is our neighbor? Is it just those that we choose? I don’t know about you, but I didn’t get to choose my neighbors, they came with the house. I don’t even get to choose those that I work with or those that I teach in my class or those that I drive on the freeway with – in the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus shows us that our neighbor might just be those that hate us the most.
It’s so easy to love those that deserve our love – but everyone does that – believer or not. True freedom comes when I choose to humbly serve even those who don’t deserve my love. It’s those that are bound by their unforgiveness and anger that are in slavery. I can never experience God’s amazing power and freedom unless I give up and give over these issues of conflict, anger and forgiveness. I must die to myself and my feelings and live in the freedom that Christ called me to. I just saw in my Facebook timeline that Victoria Osteen (wife of Pastor Joel Osteen) posted, “Bitterness does not hurt the person who offended you; it only stays in your heart and keeps you from God’s best.” Amen.
Dear Heavenly Father,
I pray for all of us who have bitterness, anger and unforgiveness in our hearts. It binds us with evil and keeps us the freedom You have purchased for us. I ask that You continue to reveal the ties that bind and give us the wisdom and courage to break those binds of slavery. I love You Jesus.
In Jesus name,
Amen
