Day 49: Choose: Perfect Acceptance Or Perfect Hate?
Read: Matthew 5:43 - 48
This morning I’m going to give you a quiz, and I don’t want you to
think real hard about your answers. I just want you to answer as you
feel you should. I want you to raise your hands if any one of these
critically important questions relates to you. Be honest now because
while I cannot see you wherever you are reading this from - Keep in mind
that God can see you. Question #1: How many of you believe you are
perfectly accepted? Question #2: How many of you out there believe it is
actually possible for someone who is actually still living to become perfectly accepted? Now, how many of you really raised your hand?
Now let us look at it from a bit of a different perspective. 43 “You
have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your
enemy.’ Now take the same quiz and where it asks if you are 'perfectly
accepted', replace the word 'accepted' with the word 'hated'. So now
question number one asks you this (and again be perfectly honest here because God is paying attention): How many of you believe you are perfectly hated? Question 2 becomes: How many of you out there believe it is actually possible for someone who is
actually still living to become perfectly hated? Now, how many of you
raised your hands?
Our reasons to hate are just as numerous as
our reasons to accept. We can rationalize anything. Notice that Jesus
says, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor
and hate your enemy.’” The part about hating your enemy is actually
found nowhere in the Bible. The part about loving your neighbor is from
Lev. 19:18. We come up with good reasons to hate people. Since it was
said that we should love our neighbor, some drew the conclusion, that we
should only love our neighbor. The conclusion was then to not love
someone who wasn’t a neighbor, that neighbor being a fellow countryman.
In other words, it meant that a neighbor was someone like any one of us
in thought, physical appearance in how they dressed, birth race,
cultural, societal, religious and spiritual beliefs, and so much
more. On the other hand, an enemy is someone who is against us. An enemy
is someone who is different from us. It could be our nemesis at work,
school, or wherever. It may be someone who
has more money and status
or just the opposite less money,less status. Why should we love someone
who doesn’t like us? Why shouldn't we hate those who're different from us? It is your choice: perfect acceptance or perfect hate.
Lord, Make me an instrument of your love. May I see each circumstance
in my life as an opportunity to grow in your love. May I see my
environment as a place to grow in your love. Where I see others differently, help me to see where we are the same. When I am tempted to become resentful, give me your power
to love. Lord, grant that I may take no pleasure in criticizing others,
but that I may see the very same good in them, as you have always seems to have found
within me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7RIuukDINc&feature=related
Above All -- Kaitlyn Maher -- 5yo
www.youtube.com
Kaitlyn Maher, the 5 year old who was the youngest ever Top 10 finalist
of the hit TV show "America's Got Talent" when she was only 4,
Read: Matthew 5:43 - 48
This morning I’m going to give you a quiz, and I don’t want you to think real hard about your answers. I just want you to answer as you feel you should. I want you to raise your hands if any one of these critically important questions relates to you. Be honest now because while I cannot see you wherever you are reading this from - Keep in mind that God can see you. Question #1: How many of you believe you are perfectly accepted? Question #2: How many of you out there believe it is actually possible for someone who is actually still living to become perfectly accepted? Now, how many of you really raised your hand?
Now let us look at it from a bit of a different perspective. 43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ Now take the same quiz and where it asks if you are 'perfectly accepted', replace the word 'accepted' with the word 'hated'. So now question number one asks you this (and again be perfectly honest here because God is paying attention): How many of you believe you are perfectly hated? Question 2 becomes: How many of you out there believe it is actually possible for someone who is actually still living to become perfectly hated? Now, how many of you raised your hands?
Our reasons to hate are just as numerous as our reasons to accept. We can rationalize anything. Notice that Jesus says, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’” The part about hating your enemy is actually found nowhere in the Bible. The part about loving your neighbor is from Lev. 19:18. We come up with good reasons to hate people. Since it was said that we should love our neighbor, some drew the conclusion, that we should only love our neighbor. The conclusion was then to not love someone who wasn’t a neighbor, that neighbor being a fellow countryman.
In other words, it meant that a neighbor was someone like any one of us in thought, physical appearance in how they dressed, birth race, cultural, societal, religious and spiritual beliefs, and so much more. On the other hand, an enemy is someone who is against us. An enemy is someone who is different from us. It could be our nemesis at work, school, or wherever. It may be someone who
has more money and status or just the opposite less money,less status. Why should we love someone who doesn’t like us? Why shouldn't we hate those who're different from us? It is your choice: perfect acceptance or perfect hate.
Lord, Make me an instrument of your love. May I see each circumstance in my life as an opportunity to grow in your love. May I see my environment as a place to grow in your love. Where I see others differently, help me to see where we are the same. When I am tempted to become resentful, give me your power to love. Lord, grant that I may take no pleasure in criticizing others, but that I may see the very same good in them, as you have always seems to have found within me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7RIuukDINc&feature=related
Above All -- Kaitlyn Maher -- 5yo
www.youtube.com
Kaitlyn Maher, the 5 year old who was the youngest ever Top 10 finalist of the hit TV show "America's Got Talent" when she was only 4,
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