Tag Archives: live generously

DESTROY YOUR ENEMY!

Christian Life, ,

DESTROY YOUR ENEMY!

“‘To you who are ready for the truth, I say this: Love you enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer for that person. If someone slaps you in the face, stand there and take it. If someone grabs your shirt, giftwrap your best coat and make a present of it. If someone takes unfair advantage of you, use the occasion to practice the servant life. No more tit-for-tat stuff. Live generously.'” Luke 6:27-30 (The Message).

“What are you saying, Jesus? You can’t be serious!”

Oh, but He was. If you want to know what power is, this is real power. There is no true power in retaliation. It only takes a bit of physical or emotional energy to hit back when someone hurts or offends you. But what kind of power does it take to absorb the blows and respond with kindness and generosity? It takes power over one’s own self not to give back blow for blow.

But it takes far more than sheer will-power to stop oneself from hitting back. That is a perfectly natural reaction coming from a human point of view, but Jesus was talking about an attitude that is far more than what comes out of our fallen human nature. He was talking about a changed disposition that comes from a completely different perspective.

What will it take to change us from reacting to responding? Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3 that, to “see” and enter the kingdom of God will take the equivalent of going back to the beginning of our life and starting over again with a new nature. That is impossible in the natural, as Nicodemus discovered, but God can do it through His power at work in our spirits.

Paul speaks of this superanatural event as “being raised from the dead” — a spiritual resurrection that is like waking up to a new realm where we understand everything from God’s point of view.

God is not a tit-for-tat God. He treats us according to who He is, not according to the way we speak or behave. That’s the way His rule operates. Human parents would understand this. If your son misbehaves, he is still you son, no matter what. A good parent will address the behaviour, not bully or disown the child because he has behaved badly.

When we were born from above, God gave us the potential and the power to respond to situations out of who we are in Christ, not out of who we were in Adam. And He gives us opportunities to show the ones who offend us what He is like by absorbing the wrongdoing and not adding to it by retaliating.

But it’s even more than that. Jesus said that its not about non-retaliation. It’s about actively responding with generosity. That’s how God treats us. The best way to “destroy” your enemy is not to beat him up or kill him but to make him your friend. He will cease to exist as an enemy and come alongside you instead of standing against you.

What kind of perspective can change our attitude towards the ones we perceive as enemies? There are two things that have helped me see things from God’s point of view. Firstly, God wants us to treat everyone with dignity because we have all been created in His image. To dish out cruelty to another human being is to treat God with the same attitude. Who would want to do that?

Secondly, people’s words and behaviour reveal who they are, not who I am. I don’t have to mirror who they are by retaliating. I want to mirror who God is by offering kindness and generosity for unkindness and meanness. Absorbing the blows will stop them right there and offer your enemy the opportunity to change his mind as well.

Have you tried it? You can, with God’s grace.

Words To Live By

Bible Study, , ,

WORDS TO LIVE BY

“‘I’ve never, as you so well know, had any taste for wealth or fashion. With these bare hands I took care of my own basic needs and those who worked with me. In everything I’ve done, I have demonstrated to you how necessary it is to work on behalf of the weak and not exploit them. You’ll not likely go wrong here if you keep remembering that our Master said, ‘You’re far happier giving than getting.’

“Then Paul went down on his knees, all of them kneeling with him, and prayed. And then a river of tears. Much clinging to Paul, not wanting to let him go. They knew they would never see him again — he had told them quite plainly. Then, bravely, they walked him down to the ship.” Acts 20:33-38 (The Message).

We are privileged to eavesdrop on a poignant moment in Paul’s life — saying goodbye to very dear friends and colleagues, knowing that they would not meet again on this side of eternity. What does one say, at a time like this? What would one’s parting words be that would ring in their ears long after he was gone?

Although his words may seem of no consequence, he actually encapsulated, in the Master’s own words, the heart of the Father — generosity. “Generous” is an adjective but we can attach it to everything that God is: generous in love; generous in mercy; generous in grace; generous in compassion; generous in kindness; generous in forgiveness; generous in provision; generous in protection; generous in favour; and on and on!

We only need to look around us to see God’s generosity everywhere. Why did He put hundreds of seeds inside a pumpkin when just a few would do to propagate the species?

But He is not only generous in doing. He is also generous in being. He doesn’t judge or beat us when we fall. He tenderly picks us up, dusts us off, wipes away our tears and whispers, ‘It’s okay. I have already forgiven you. Now keep going. I’m with you and you’ll make it home to me.’

“Generosity” is an interesting word in Hebrew. The root word “tsidaq” is translated “righteousness” in English which is an abstract concept and difficult to define. The Hebrew language leans towards action rather than abstract — understanding life from the point of view of the senses. To understand righteousness, i.e., doing the right thing, they added the letter “h” which, in Paleo Hebrew (the original picture Hebrew), was a picture of an open window. “Tsidaq” became “tsidaqah” — “righteousness revealed”, translated “generosity.”

Hundreds of times in the Old Testament, righteousness and generosity are coupled together in the same verse or adjacent verses. Consider just one example: “The wicked borrow and do not repay, but the righteous give generously.” Psalm 37:21(NIV).

The essence of our old human nature is selfishness. Adam lost his God-awareness when he chose his own way, and became pathologically self-aware and self-absorbed. Is it any wonder, then, that the world is obsessed with money, driven by money and greedy for money?

One of the clearest evidences of the transformation that Jesus works in the life of a believer is his attitude to money and possessions. When Zaccheus had an encounter with Jesus, his first reaction was to restore what he had stolen and share his bounty with the poor. Jesus concluded, “‘Today salvation has come to this house…'” Luke 19:9a (NIV).

True happiness is the by-product of a generous heart, generous in attitude as well as in sharing the good things God has entrusted to us. “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”