Bend in the Road
Levels of Love!

 

"But if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you what credit is that to you?... love your enemies."  

Luke 6:32,33, 35

Greetings!

I'm coming to the conclusion that none of us are really safe until we can love those who have hurt us, mocked us, threatened us, opposed us and have inflicted pain upon us.

 

Why? Because it seems to me that the love for equals is simply a human thing--a friend for friend, brother for brother, sister for a sister. It is simply to love what is loving you. The world smiles upon this and enters into it as well.

 

The love for the less fortunate is a more beautiful thing--the love for those who suffer, for those who are poor, the sick, the failures, the unlovely. This is truly compassionate and it touches the heart of the christian and even the world.

 

The love for the more fortunate is a rare thing--to love those who succeeded where we fail, the love of the poor for the rich, of the black man for the white man, of the white man for the black man, and the Protestant for the Catholic. Even the world is astounded by such saintly love, as is the church.

 

But then there is the love for the enemy--love for the one who does not love you but tortures you, acts out to hurt you. It seems to me that the test of real biblical love, God's love, in and through us, is loving those who can never love you back. Wouldn't we all do well to ask ourselves which level of love we live and then ask and allow God to work out His level of love in each of us.  

 

Wouldn't this be Calvary's love! Wouldn't this conquer the world?

 

Growing in this love,

 

Jim & & Sally  


Sally Hohnberger
Empowered Living Ministries             Visit our Website