Welcome to day 11 of our 40 day challenge! Today, we are in Luke 6:27-38.

(You can catch up on our Intro, Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6, Day 7, Day 8, Day 9, Day 10 if you missed them)

Love for Enemies

²⁷ “But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, ²⁸ bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. ²⁹ If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. ³⁰ Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back.³¹ Do to others as you would have them do to you.

³² “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. ³³ And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. ³⁴ And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. ³⁵ But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. ³⁶ Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

Judging Others

³⁷ “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.³⁸ Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

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I’m picturing the first group ever to hear these words of Jesus for the first time. These words couldn’t have been more counter cultural then, and they still are today.

As Christians, we take these words seriously and give our lives to living them out. It doesn’t make it easy, but if we commit to doing it, the Lord will empower us more and more. We’ve had these words for all our lives, and they are still revolutionary. That’s why there’s such opposition to them.

Anyone can be good to those who are good to them. Anyone can love the lovable. But, as followers of Jesus, we love our neighbors and even our enemies. We give to all. We forgive. We don’t condemn or judge.

We do all this, not because others deserve it, but because Jesus does! And everything we do or do not do to another person in need, we do to Him.

I feel both a sadness and a hope welling up in me as I read these words fresh this morning. The world is so in need of Christians who take Jesus’s words seriously.

The question for us is, what does it look like to follow the words of Jesus in our lives right now? What does it look like in our families, our communities, our churches, and our nations?

Who are the neighbors, the enemies, the Samaritans of our day? Who are the least of these? Who is the world trying to get you to ignore when they’re in need or mistreated? Depending on where you are, the group may be different, but there is always a group the enemy pits us against, or at least encourages us not to care about.

And if we don’t fall for that trick, we still aren’t off the hook. The very person Jesus tells us to love is the person we don’t want to love. Maybe it’s someone who has wronged you? Someone who has purposely hurt you? If we follow Jesus and do what He tells us, there will be someone we don’t want to love that He tells us to love. That’s the nature of being a Christian. We see above the squabbles of the world into the heart of each person and situation.

Lord, help us to have your heart for others. Give us your love and compassion for those we might feel justified not loving. Empower us to see past the division of the enemy, and see each person as our neighbor.

Options for further  journaling or discussion throughout the challenge:

• Choose a part of the passage to write out by hand. Writing by hand helps us slow down and focus on what the Lord might highlight for us in the passage. Our brains can focus and remember better by writing than just reading alone.
• Journal about what the passage brings to mind. Does the passage tell us anything about God? Does it tell us anything about our response to Him?
• Does your heart respond in gratitude to any part of the passage? Write or pray your gratitude to the Lord.

We’ll see you tomorrow for Day 12, and Matthew 23

♥ Samantha