Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is the ultimate example of blessing others. Despite being unfairly treated by the Pharisees and even His own people, Jesus reached out to those in need of God's unconditional love and compassion. How did He respond when He was insulted? 1 Peter 2:23a (NIV) states, "When they hurled insults at Him, He did not retaliate..." What did He do when He was paying our sin debt on the cross? How did He handle the suffering and the intense pain? 1 Peter 2:23b (NIV) states, "...when He suffered, He made no threats." In fact, He prayed. What? He prayed for the people who had Him crucified. But, what was His prayer like? Did He pray for God to destroy the people. No. He simply said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do" (Luke 23:34, NKJV).
How can we be like Jesus in the sense of blessing others, especially those individuals who don't like us? In His Sermon on the Mount, He addresses this issue. In Matthew 5:43 (KJV), He says, "Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy." It was probably a widespread rumor that the proper response to an enemy was hatred. That is to say, if the enemy hates you, you hate him/her in return. Yet, Jesus states in Matthew 5:44 (KJV), "But I say unto you, Love your enemies..." This is a 180-degree turn from the rumored response. Love our enemies? How are we supposed to do that? Jesus provides us with three specific ways to love our enemies.
(1) Bless individuals who curse you. Again, we see that we are to be a blessing. Even when people say or do bad things to us (curse us), our first response should be to bless those people in some way.
(2) Do good to individuals who hate you. There are some people who simply do not like us because we are followers of Jesus Christ. To paraphrase 1 John 3:13, "Do not be surprised if the world (referring to individuals who do not know Jesus Christ) hates you." Jesus states in John 15:18 (KJV), "If the world hate you, ye know that it hated Me before it hated you." Our response to a world that hates us is simply doing good to those who are of the world. We let our lights shine before them (see Matthew 5:16) even though they try to suffocate us with their darkness.
(3) Pray for people who despitefully use you and persecute you. Has Jesus suddenly become absurd? Of course not! Praying for people who hate us to the point of hurting us (physically, mentally, and/or emotionally) is the most effective response. What should we pray? We should pray that the individuals who persecute us will experience God's grace like we have when we got saved. So, instead of getting even with an enemy, we may be able to gain a brother or sister in Christ.
In Matthew 5:45 (KJV), Jesus states the reason why we are to love our enemies: that ye may be the children of your Father which is in Heaven. As children of God, we are to imitate Him and walk in love (see Ephesians 5:1, 2). This means that we are to bless the individuals He blesses and to do good to people whom He does good. Jesus tells us in Matthew 5:46, 47 that it is easy to love those who love us, but the real reward comes when we love people who do not love us. As Jesus clearly points out in Matthew 5:48 (KJV), "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect." The word perfect means "complete". What Jesus is saying is that we are to be a blessing to everyone we encounter and love each person as God loves him/her.
May God bless you today and every day and be sure to be a blessing to others!
How can we be like Jesus in the sense of blessing others, especially those individuals who don't like us? In His Sermon on the Mount, He addresses this issue. In Matthew 5:43 (KJV), He says, "Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy." It was probably a widespread rumor that the proper response to an enemy was hatred. That is to say, if the enemy hates you, you hate him/her in return. Yet, Jesus states in Matthew 5:44 (KJV), "But I say unto you, Love your enemies..." This is a 180-degree turn from the rumored response. Love our enemies? How are we supposed to do that? Jesus provides us with three specific ways to love our enemies.
(1) Bless individuals who curse you. Again, we see that we are to be a blessing. Even when people say or do bad things to us (curse us), our first response should be to bless those people in some way.
(2) Do good to individuals who hate you. There are some people who simply do not like us because we are followers of Jesus Christ. To paraphrase 1 John 3:13, "Do not be surprised if the world (referring to individuals who do not know Jesus Christ) hates you." Jesus states in John 15:18 (KJV), "If the world hate you, ye know that it hated Me before it hated you." Our response to a world that hates us is simply doing good to those who are of the world. We let our lights shine before them (see Matthew 5:16) even though they try to suffocate us with their darkness.
(3) Pray for people who despitefully use you and persecute you. Has Jesus suddenly become absurd? Of course not! Praying for people who hate us to the point of hurting us (physically, mentally, and/or emotionally) is the most effective response. What should we pray? We should pray that the individuals who persecute us will experience God's grace like we have when we got saved. So, instead of getting even with an enemy, we may be able to gain a brother or sister in Christ.
In Matthew 5:45 (KJV), Jesus states the reason why we are to love our enemies: that ye may be the children of your Father which is in Heaven. As children of God, we are to imitate Him and walk in love (see Ephesians 5:1, 2). This means that we are to bless the individuals He blesses and to do good to people whom He does good. Jesus tells us in Matthew 5:46, 47 that it is easy to love those who love us, but the real reward comes when we love people who do not love us. As Jesus clearly points out in Matthew 5:48 (KJV), "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect." The word perfect means "complete". What Jesus is saying is that we are to be a blessing to everyone we encounter and love each person as God loves him/her.
May God bless you today and every day and be sure to be a blessing to others!
