Dear friends, welcome to the café. Please make yourselves comfortable while I pour us our cups of coffee.We are talking about Love again; we cannot tire of talking about it because Love is the greatest commandment given to us by God, yet it is the one commandment we have the most difficulty obeying.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get?Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. Matthew 5:43-48
This is a big one this week; I cannot imagine anything more difficult to do than to love your enemies and people who are trying to kill you. How can you tell a mother of a young child kidnapped, raped and killed to love her child’s killer? How about asking a quadriplegic who has been left paralyzed by an accident caused by a drunk driver to love the person who put them in a wheelchair for life? As humans, we cannot even begin to contemplate this and yet this is exactly what Jesus has asked us to do. The point is that when we are able to achieve this, we set ourselves apart from people who do not believe and we actually achieve a level of perfection comparable to our heavenly father’s.
But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.Colossians 3:14
Watching the news and seeing the devastation taking place in the Gaza Strip, I cannot help feeling even more strongly about this topic. Hatred is just as powerful as love and unfortunately in our world today, hate always wins. I keep asking myself what can possibly be God’s will in this whole thing, I don’t know. If I was in Israel, would I just smile at the Palestinians and tell them how much I love them even as they shoot rockets that might kill me into Israel? I don’t know that I would be able to do that; I would probably rain every curse I can on them and ask God to totally destroy them. On the other hand, if I was a Palestinian believer, would I be feeling all warm and fuzzy towards my Israeli brethren at this time, probably not. Yet God himself through His son Jesus Christ has specifically asked us to love our enemies and pray for them even as they try to kill or destroy us.
My dear friends, Loving our enemies is never going to come easy to us no matter what side we are on, but we have to start somewhere and God in His infinite kindness will help us. As we pray for the peace of Jerusalem today, let us remember those beloved children of God on the other side; we must not forget that there are Palestinians caught in this madness that call Jesus Lord and are looking to Him to come to their rescue. We have to make love a part of our christian walk or else we will never be able to reach a world that desperately needs Jesus. Our Lord is counting on us; He is cheering us on step by little step and He is waiting for the day when He can present us to the father as an unblemished church.
That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. Ephesians 5:27
These are solely my views and opinions and it is okay if you do not agree with them, but I will like to hear your opinions, click on the leave a comment button and share your thoughts with us and please forward this to others you know that might need a word from God and encourage them to check it out. See you next week at the café and God’s blessings as you enjoy your coffee.
Blessings,
Kathryn
100 people Palestinian killed and 300 hundred injured , 11 children died today all of them under 5 years old , God doing this to give Palestinian their land back , and finish this bloody war , but no one want to support Palestinian decision .
By: Zulie on November 19, 2012
at 8:54 pm
Zulie, we need to stop the hate; nobody wins when there is so much hate. Palestine is not innocent in this either, they have been shooting rockets into Israel for a long time. When we do things like this, unfortunately it is the innocent people like the children who suffer. There have been Israeli children killed too, their lives are just as important as those of the Palestinian children. We need to stop the hate and start spreading love regardless of who is right or wrong. The madness needs to stop. My article is not a political piece as I am not interested in taking sides, it is about obeying God and learning to love one another. Until we do, we will continue to have these kinds of things.
By: kay01234 on November 19, 2012
at 9:15 pm
Your words came in due season and for all the reasons. Permit me to add that love builds and lifts but hate puts down and destroys. The spot inbetween them is forgiveness and God’s take on this is clear as Jesus quantified how much we have to forgive. No matter what the enemy does, once you forgive openly, you would have shown love and created the space for him to be on your side with a huge debt to pay back forever! May God help us all. Amen.
By: Dr. Oscar Odiboh on November 19, 2012
at 8:58 pm
God roc’s! Thanks for the reminder.-IJ
By: IzzieJ on November 19, 2012
at 10:48 pm