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| (Melting ice on my front porch) |
I am praying for a love like Jesus.
To love as Jesus loves.
Like this.
Our culture has trained you to hate. You have been taught this:
"Do unto others, as they do unto you."
You are to be different than this.
If someone loves you, you are to love them.
If someone hates you, you are to love them.
If someone slanders you, you are to bless them.
If someone hurts you, you are to pray for them.
You must understand them.
Then you will do wonderful things for people who hate you.
That's different. That's from another world.
This will show who you really are, and who you belong to.
You get no extra credit for loving someone you find lovable.
Anyone can do that. Everyone does that.
Even Isis does that.
You are different from that.
You are a new creation, with new power.
God's DNA determines you.
You are to be like Him.
You are to love as He does.
And one day, you shall be like Him.
Therefore, love and be as He is, now.
Matthew 5:43-48
"Whenever,
contrary to the world’s vindictiveness,
we love our enemy,
we exhibit something of the perfect love of God...,
Whenever we opt for and not against one another,
we make God’s unconditional love visible;
we are diminishing violence
and giving birth to a new community."
Henri Nouwen, You Are the Beloved (p. 49)
"Whenever,
contrary to the world’s vindictiveness,
we love our enemy,
we exhibit something of the perfect love of God...,
Whenever we opt for and not against one another,
we make God’s unconditional love visible;
we are diminishing violence
and giving birth to a new community."
Henri Nouwen, You Are the Beloved (p. 49)
