Have you ever felt as though you were being singled out by God? That somehow what you were experiencing was unique only to you? Did you ever feel yourself getting angry at the circumstances of your life and think, "THAT'S NOT FAIR!"?
Well, if that's the case, get ready because we're going to be talking about this very thing this Sunday at Grace Church. It is my hope that we will find out what God wants us to really think about our circumstances and respond accordingly. But to get ourselves ready for that, I want us to look at two passages of Scripture...one today and one tomorrow.
The first passage is from Matthew chapter 5, verses 43-48. Go ahead and read that now. If you don't have a Bible with you, click here. Then come back to the rest of the post.
Okay, so what do you think about what Jesus says here? This is some of the most difficult teaching that I think Jesus gives us, because it so goes against our natural inclinations. Our default setting is to hate our enemies and do our best to get even with them. Most of your super villains fall under this category. There is some slight done to them and now they must get their revenge... muwahahahahahahahah (for those of you unfamiliar with the super hero genre, that's an evil laugh).
But God has a better way in mind, and that is for us to love our enemies. The best way to accept this teaching is by understanding what Jesus says in verse 45, when He reminds us that God sends the "sunshine on both the evil and the good..." He tells us this because we need to understand that people are all essentially the same. None of us is better than the other and we all need to be sensitive to this fact.
You and I all live under that same sun, the same sky, the same clouds, the same rain. God is not a respecter of persons, and He will allow things to come into each of our lives, both good and bad. So do not focus on what is "fair". Focus on Jesus!
Please feel free to comment below or ask a question. And we'll see you Sunday!
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