Equal Opportunity
Posted by anthologycreative
Equal Opportunity
Read This Passage: Luke 6:27-31
“Just as you want others to do for you, do the same for them.” —Luke 6:31
I ONCE HEARD the story of a woman who had been imprisoned in concentration camps in Germany during the Holocaust. Miraculously, she survived. She had lived through the torture and agony of the concentration camps, watched friends and family members die, and endured abuse and cruelty from many of the German guards.
Much later in her life, one of the guards who had so violently abused her and been responsible for many Jewish deaths came to her seeking forgiveness. This amazing lady, because of the love of God in her life, was able to forgive this man for all the atrocities he and others had done to her, her family, and her friends. Isn’t that amazing?
People are capable of terrible, hurtful, destructive things. Yet we are called to forgive them and treat them as we want to be treated. We can only do that through the love of God. We cannot do it on our own.
In today’s key verse, you find the idea behind the Golden Rule. Forgiveness is supposed to be a marked part of our lives as Christians. And we’re called to not just forgive, but to treat others with the same respect and compassion we would want shown to us. And the people in your life don’t always deserve that. Neither do you.
Jesus made it very clear that we are to respond to all people, including our enemies, with forgiveness and respect. He tells us to love them, do good to them, and pray for them. We’re to treat them the way we want to be treated, whether they deserve it or not. That command is never easy to follow, but it’s absolutely necessary to developing successful, godly relationships in your life.
Real Choices
Think about the relationships in your life in which you’re experiencing conflict and tough situations. They could’ve have been at camp or at home. What do you need to do to forgive these people in God’s power? How would you like to be treated in the same situation?
Digging Deeper
Read Ephesians 4:24-32. What do these verses have to say about relationships? How do they challenge you in your relationships?
Pray
Father, please help me to always reflect Your love and show kindness even in times of adversity.
Posted in Boys, Devotions | Tagged Luke, Ridgecrest Summer Camps, Weekly Devotion
I’ll tell you what I have really been endliag with a garden of bitterness in my life and I didn’t even know it was there. Just a few weeks ago, in a spirit of prayer, I asked God to reveal things that were blocking my life and one was a big patch of bitterness. Whew! As soon as I acknowledged it, I felt that instant burning sensation that comes with remembering the wrongs done to me and I asked God to forgive me for harboring resentment and even hatred and asked Him to remove those weeds from my life. It was a process one I’m still undergoing but God is good. Forgiving someone who wronged me long ago with whom I have no contact any longer came with a humongous sense of RELIEF! A burden rolled away and I have actually felt a deeper connection with the Lord. More than anything, I realized just how much my selfishness and pride (which demanded retribution) kept me from an intimate walk with my Lord.I have to regularly ask HIM to reveal these areas in me. I walked for a long time without even knowing they were there whether I tried to just ignore them first, I can’t even remember but I ask God to SHOW ME where I need to take a rake and cut back the weeds that keep me from HIM and HIS PLANS for me.