that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust. Matthew 5:45 NABRE
Jesus speaks of His most important message, to love. This verse is contained within a passage on the subject loving our neighbor and as important loving our enemy. This message seems impossible to convince people who have been oppressed, or treated unfairly, even someone who is powerful and can easily ignore an act of hatred or evil against them would have a difficult time loving the person who tried to harm them. At the time Jesus was asking people living under Roman oppression to love the Romans. How easily can a family member of a holocaust victim love a Nazi? Jesus not only asks us to love enemies but He says it is what we must do if we want to be children of God. As God is our Father, we are created in His image and likeness, we must carry forward God’s desires and will, a family acts at the behest of the head of the family. Jesus tells us God rains as much on the garden of the unjust as He does on the just, He provides equal sunlight for the good and the bad. God does not treat people as they deserve.
In order to be a child of God we must love as God loves, and recognize that everyone is our brother or sister, treating them better than we think they deserve. To be like God we must take on the characteristics of God. We cannot look in the face of another person and deny the divine spark that exist in that person. Not loving the other is tantamount to rejecting God. As with much of Jesus’ teaching on love, it is no easy task to be like God.
Do you love those who oppress you? Are you able to see past an evil act and recognize the divinity in the other person?
We cannot look in the face of another person and deny the divine spark that exist in that person. Not loving the other is tantamount to rejecting God. As with much of Jesus’ teaching on love, it is no easy task to be like God. Click To Tweet#bible #godisgreat #jesus #christianity #dailybibleverse @youversion #BeAnEncourager #children #love #Matthew #everybodyalways #god #jesuschrist #jesussaves #godisgood #dailydevotion #biblestudy #scripture #bibleverse #verseoftheday #cross #last #Matthew #loveeachother #godisgreat #thisVineyard #youversion #everythingalways