Sons and Daughters
But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. Luke 6:27-28
But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:44-45
In many parts of the world today, where Christians suffer at the hands of others, these words call Jesus' followers to a discipleship of the most radical sort.
In more comfortable contexts, it's not always easy to spot who our 'enemies' might be. On the platform, hoping desperately for the one remaining seat when the 7.18 train arrives, is the nifty person who gets in before me my enemy? Arriving at work to the already full inbox of emails screaming for attention, are these missives launched from hostile forces? When my urgent need of caffeine is met by a defunct coffee machine, is this evidence of enemy sabotage? Are the unreasonable expectations of my boss evidence of their secret enrolment in the micro-management bootcamp for would-be dictators?
As trivial, relatively speaking, as some of these situations might be, they each elicit from us a response, frequently expressed in words - even if those words are muttered under our breath! James reminds us that 'with the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God's likeness' (James 3:9), and Jesus calls on us to love our enemies, to bless those who curse us, and pray for them.
At heart, says Jesus, is our identity as sons and daughters of our Father - 'that you may be children of your Father in heaven'. It's not that blessing people whom we might be tempted to bad-mouth qualifies us to be God's children; it's that what comes out of our mouth shows whether I know the lavish love of our heavenly Father. Will I allow the ill-intentioned words, actions or attitudes of others to define me, and react to repel the attack, or am I secure in the knowledge that my true identity was established once and for all by a Father who so loved me that he sent his Son to die on my behalf?
So, fellow sons and daughters, let's live out our identity by blessing all those who are seated while we stand on that morning train; by blessing each sender in our email inbox; by praying for the person who will fix the coffee machine; and by showing, in word and deed, our desire to bless our boss and colleagues.
From February 1st LICC PrayerWorks is launching '40 days of blessing' and we invite you to join the journey of praying blessing on colleagues, workplaces and projects for 40 days. Short email prayer prompts will be sent to you each day when you join and we would welcome your feedback afterwards as to the difference you have seen. Sign up now!
Beverley Shepherd
LICC PrayerWorks
Comments
There are currently no comments for this article.
