"But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust" (Matthew 5:44-45)
Father in heaven, You teach us to approach life in a way that is so unlike our human inclinations! And yet we have seen the unquestionable wisdom of Your perfect ways, the irrefutable soundness of Your divine guidance. We humbly acknowledge Your perfect wisdom and judgment, captured in the song of David:
The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul. The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes. The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The decrees of the Lord are firm, and all of them are righteous. They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb. By them Your servant is warned; in keeping them there is great reward (Psalm 19:7-11).
Lord, even as the world scoffs at and rejects Your teaching, it bemoans the trouble, the chaos, and the destruction caused by human ways. Our Lord Jesus taught and modeled a different path, a divine path, a path that identifies us as [children] of [our] Father in heaven.
Jesus taught us that You, O Father, show Your prevenient grace, Your providence to "the just and the unjust" (Matthew 5:45 - NKJV)—You "make Your sun rise on the evil and the good." He showed us by His life and His death how to reflect the heart of a loving and compassionate Father. He calls us to do likewise.
O help us Lord! You know how difficult this is for us! When everything in us wants to respond with human action, in human judgment, let Your Holy Spirit fill us with the courage, the strength, and the trust it takes for us to "love [our] enemies, bless those who curse [us], do good to those who hate [us], and pray for those who spitefully use [us] and persecute [us]" (Matthew 5:44). Help us, like Jesus, to "commit [ourselves] to Him who judges righteously (1 Peter 2:23).
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