Faithful Fridays is a weekly "meme" hosted on my blog. I made it so that Christians could have one day out of the week (Friday) to share something from their Christian walk on their blog. If you'd like to participate, write your post, grab the button from the Faithful Fridays page on my blog (so that it will link back here), and come link up at the bottom of this post! :)
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I came across a quote on Pinterest the other day that kind of hit me like a brick.
"Try and do the nicest thing you can think of for the rudest person you know. That's love Jesus' style."
Well, doesn't that just throw a wrench in our whole nature? If we think a person is rude, if they just get under our skin and irritate the fire out of us, our instinct is to be as cold and removed from them as we can without being obviously "impolite." Or, if they really push our buttons and move us past a certain point, we might just do away with all the manners and be rude right back. Right? It's happened to everyone.
But Jesus suggests otherwise. Remember, those ^^ are reactions and instincts common to our nature.
Our human nature is sinful.
Huh.
So, if we're doing things according to our nature, we're probably going to end up doing something sinful. Makes sense, doesn't it?
So, the opposite idea of these sinful reactions is loving those who are rude, who get under your skin, who drive you crazy.
"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your father in heaven. He causes the 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 brothers, 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
And it's hard. I know it. It sounds a lot easier and it's a lot easier to say than do. After all, it's against our nature. It's going to be hard. We'll be fighting against ourselves and the temptation to be mean right back. But we weren't made to do these things on our own, were we? Jesus is standing right by us, holding our hand, helping us through it all. It's not enough just to love those who love us and those who are easy to love. That's kind of not the point. It's great that we love those people, but Jesus said that it is the sick that need a doctor. It's the people that get on our nerves that probably are having nerve-wracking problems themselves. It's the people that we can't stand that can't stand under their burden much longer. It's the people that drive us crazy that are probably feeling crazy themselves.
So, the next time that person starts pushing your buttons, stop. Take a deep breath. Pray, pray, pray for Jesus' guidance and help. Then try your absolute best to return love to them. You may not feel like doing it, but if you make the first movement, the feeling will follow.
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Thank you for stopping by today! :)
God bless you and have a great day!
Joy :)
4 comments:
Joy,
Wow! Boy this IS hard. It is definitely easier said than done and I know we've talked about this before. But I do know that when we make the first move, God puts the feeling there. It's hard getting to that move though. I struggle with this.
Lots of wisdom there! Thanks for sharing it!
Love you! 10!
MOM
You are so beautiful at writing, joy! This is sooo true, yet sooooo hard. A lot of times we just think that just cuz some one was mean to us, they are our enemy and we "have" to be mean back...but God tells us the opposite! He actually tells us to LOVE our enemies! Thanks for this post!!! : D
'irritate the fire out of us' oh, I think that is funny.
And true what you say. That what is Godly is CHRIST.
Great post, Joy! Loved it.
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