Chapter 13 - The Enemy -- the "Extraordinary"
Bonhoeffer- 'The Christian must treat his enemy as a brother, and requite his hostility with love. His behavior must be determined not by the way others treat him, but by the treatment he himself receives from Jesus; it has only one source, and that is the will of Jesus.'
My thoughts- Imagine that. OUR behavior NOT being determined by the way we are treated by others. Isn't that was establishes our behavior? Seriously. We are treated certain ways and that treatment is geared to get certain reactions from us. A person doesn't ridicule us without wanting it to hurt us in some way. A person doesn't yell at us without intending that yelling to have an affect on us. The behavior desired is seldom lacking. When we yell at someone what are we expecting the response to be? Sometimes we yell because we want to get a point across not necessarily wanting to be yelled at in return. But yelling often encourages the response of yelling. Anger can result in producing more anger, or it can bring on despair, depression, and various other results, but normally contentment and peace are not among those results. Yet, we as CHRIST'S are treated with LOVE, pure LOVE unlike anything that exists outside of Christ. The mere attempt to comprehend Christ's love is mind boggling. This love is how we are TREATED by CHRIST. And this LOVE is how we are to TREAT others. We are NOT to treat others based on how they treat us. We can't if we are Christ's because that sort of treatment results in us being treated that way in return. If we cannot forgive, we will NOT be forgiven. If we cannot love others, we cannot be loved in return. If we cannot respond in LOVE towards one who is persecuting us, how can we expect to be loved when we have been the persecutors?
We love our enemies because we as enemies of our Savior through our embracing of sin, are LOVED when we seek forgiveness, repenting and longing to be Christ's! When we are forgiven, when we are LOVED, we are instructed to LOVE. This is OUR instruction- to LOVE, no matter what, we LOVE. Undeservedly we LOVE. We will never have deserved Christ's love, NEVER! And there may be hundreds, thousands, of occasions that others will not deserve our love, they may NEVER deserve our love, but we MUST love!
Are we forgiven much?
Then we MUST forgive much!
Are we loved much?
Then we MUST love much!
ALL by the GRACE of our God all because HE loves, it's HIS LOVE!
IN HIS LOVE!
Bonhoeffer- 'The Christian must treat his enemy as a brother, and requite his hostility with love. His behavior must be determined not by the way others treat him, but by the treatment he himself receives from Jesus; it has only one source, and that is the will of Jesus.'
My thoughts- Imagine that. OUR behavior NOT being determined by the way we are treated by others. Isn't that was establishes our behavior? Seriously. We are treated certain ways and that treatment is geared to get certain reactions from us. A person doesn't ridicule us without wanting it to hurt us in some way. A person doesn't yell at us without intending that yelling to have an affect on us. The behavior desired is seldom lacking. When we yell at someone what are we expecting the response to be? Sometimes we yell because we want to get a point across not necessarily wanting to be yelled at in return. But yelling often encourages the response of yelling. Anger can result in producing more anger, or it can bring on despair, depression, and various other results, but normally contentment and peace are not among those results. Yet, we as CHRIST'S are treated with LOVE, pure LOVE unlike anything that exists outside of Christ. The mere attempt to comprehend Christ's love is mind boggling. This love is how we are TREATED by CHRIST. And this LOVE is how we are to TREAT others. We are NOT to treat others based on how they treat us. We can't if we are Christ's because that sort of treatment results in us being treated that way in return. If we cannot forgive, we will NOT be forgiven. If we cannot love others, we cannot be loved in return. If we cannot respond in LOVE towards one who is persecuting us, how can we expect to be loved when we have been the persecutors?
We love our enemies because we as enemies of our Savior through our embracing of sin, are LOVED when we seek forgiveness, repenting and longing to be Christ's! When we are forgiven, when we are LOVED, we are instructed to LOVE. This is OUR instruction- to LOVE, no matter what, we LOVE. Undeservedly we LOVE. We will never have deserved Christ's love, NEVER! And there may be hundreds, thousands, of occasions that others will not deserve our love, they may NEVER deserve our love, but we MUST love!
Are we forgiven much?
Then we MUST forgive much!
Are we loved much?
Then we MUST love much!
ALL by the GRACE of our God all because HE loves, it's HIS LOVE!
IN HIS LOVE!
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