Luke- Week 7- Day 4

But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.  (36)  Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.

Luke 6:35-36 

Question #3- Why should I love?

But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again;

Luke 6:35a

This is a restatement or summary of what He had commanded.

Why should we love this way? 

1. Reward from God

“and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest:

Luke 6:35b

Jesus tells his disciples that those who love like this will be rewarded by God in a big way.  Those who love like that show that they are his disciples.  They show that they are blessed. Those that display this kind of love show that they are “children of the Highest”. Their identity is connected to God because they are loving the way God loves. The next phrase is the key to the whole passage:

“for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.  (36)  Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.”

Luke 6:36

Our motivation for loving is not the performance of those we are called to love.  Our motivation for loving is found in the fact that God loved us when we did not deserve it.  God is kind to the unthankful.  God is kind to the evil person.  That means God has been merciful to us.  Since God has loved us when we were undeserving, we ought to love those around us that we may feel do not deserve it either.

Application:

Romans 5 says something particularly important about God’s love for us.

For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.  (7)  For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.  (8)  But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.  (9)  Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.  (10)  For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. 

Romans 5:6-10

If God loved us when we were His enemies, this means He loved us when we did not deserve it.  He did not wait to demonstrate His incredible love for us when we were deserving.  He loved us first.

When we love others unconditionally, intentionally, and as an action, our reward will be great.  We will demonstrate that we are people who God has changed.  We will demonstrate that we are born again!

Response:

Take a moment to thank God for loving you when you did not deserve it.