Christ lives in me - Cost of Discipleship Pt 76

Chapter 14 - The Hidden Righteousness

Mat 6:1  Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.
Mat 6:2  Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
Mat 6:3  But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:
Mat 6:4  That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.


Bonhoeffer- 'But precisely because the Christian life is of its very nature extraordinary, it is at the same time ordinary, natural, and HIDDEN. If not, it is not the Christian life at all, it is not obedience to the will of Jesus Christ. 

Secondly, we have to ask how the visible and the invisible  aspects of discipleship can be combined, and how the same life can be both visible and hidden. To answer this question, all we need to do is to go back to chapter 5, where the extraordinary and the visible are defined as the cross of Christ beneath which the disciples stand. The cross is at once the necessary, the hidden, and the visible-- it is the "extraordinary."

Thirdly we have to ask how the contradiction between the fifth and the sixth chapters is to be resolved.  The answer lies in the meaning of discipleship. It means an exclusive adherence to him, and that implies first, that the disciple looks only to his Lord and follows him. If he looked only at the extraordinary quality of the Christian life, he would no longer be following Christ. For the disciple this extraordinary quality consists solely in the will of the Lord, and when he seeks to do that will he knows that there is no other alternative, and that what he does is the only natural thing to do.

All that the follower of Jesus has to do is to make sure that his obedience, following and love are entirely spontaneous and unpremeditated. If you do good, you must not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, you must be quite unconscious of it. Otherwise you are simply displaying your own virtue, the virtue of discipleship, can only be accomplished so long as you are entirely unconscious of what you are doing. The genuine work of love is always a hidden work. Take heed therefore that you know it not, for only so it is the goodness of God. If we want to know our own goodness or love, it has already ceased to be love. We must be unaware even of our love for our enemies. After all, when we love them they are no longer our enemies. This voluntary blindness in the Christian (which is really sight illuminated by Christ) is his certainty, and the fact that his life is hidden from his sight is the ground of his assurance.

Thus hiddenness has its counterpart in manifestation. For there is nothing hidden that shall not be revealed. For our God is a God unto whom all hearts are open, and from whom no secrets are hid. God will show us the hidden and make it and the only question is where we shall receive it and who will give it us. If we want publicity in the eyes of men we have our reward. In other words, it is immaterial whether the publicity we want it the grosser kind, which all can see, or the more subtle variety which we can only see ourselves. If the left hand knows what the right hand is doing, if we become conscious of our hidden virtue, we are forging our own reward, instead of that which God had intended to give us in his own good time.

Genuine love is always self forgetful in the true sense of the word. But if we are to have it, our old man must die with all his virtues and qualities, and this can only be done where the disciple forgets SELF and clings SOLELY to CHRIST.

When Jesus said: "Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth." he was sounding the death-knell of the old man.

Once again who can live a life which combines chapters 5 & 6?

Only those who have died after the old man through Christ, and are given a new life by following HIM and having fellowship with HIM.

Love, in the sense of spontaneous, unreflective action, spells the death of the old man. For man recovers his true nature in the righteousness of Christ and in his fellowman. The love of Christ crucified, who delivers our old man to death, is the love which lives in those who follow him.

"I live yet no longer I, but Christ liveth in me" (Gal. 2:20)

Henceforth the Christian finds himself only in Christ and in his brethren.'

My thoughts-

NOTHING is about US!
EVERYTHING is about CHRIST!

Hidden Righteousness - Cost of Discipleshp Pt 75

Chapter 14 - The Hidden Righteousness

Mat 6:1  Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.
Mat 6:2  Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
Mat 6:3  But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:
Mat 6:4  That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.

Bonhoeffer- 'The disciples are told they can possess the "extraordinary" only so long as they are reflective: they must beware how they use it, and never fulfill it simply for its own sake, or for the sake of ostentation. The better righteousness of the disciples must have a motive which lies beyond itself. Of course it has to be visible, but they must take care that it does not become visible simply for the sake of becoming visible.

Let your light shine before men…'

Mat_5:16  Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

'...and yet: Take care that you hide it'!'

Mat 6:4  That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.

'That which is visible must also be hidden. The awareness on which Jesus insists is intended to prevent us from reflecting on our extraordinary position. We have to take heed that we do not take heed of our own righteousness. Otherwise the "extraordinary" which we achieve will not be that which comes from following Christ, but that which springs from our own will and desire.

How is this paradox to be resolved? The first question to ask is: From whom are we to hide the visibility of our discipleship? Certainly not from other men, for we are told to let them see our light. No. We are to hide it from OURSELVES. Our task is simply to keep on following, looking only to our Leader who goes on before, taking no notice of ourselves or of what we are doing. We must be unaware of our own righteousness, and see it only in so far as we look unto Jesus; then it will seem not extraordinary, but quite ordinary and natural. Thus we hide the visible from ourselves in obedience to the word of Jesus. If the "extraordinary" were important for its own sake, we should, like fanatics, be relying on our own fleshly strength and power, whereas the disciple of Jesus acts simply in obedience to his Lord.  That is, he regards the "extraordinary" as the natural fruit of obedience. According to the word of Jesus it cannot be otherwise: the Christian is a light unto the world, not because of any quality of his own, but only because he follows Christ and looks solely to him.'

My thoughts-

When we are told this-

Mat 6:3  But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth

--it can be no clearer, we are not to LET ourselves know! 

And as everyone knows, you cannot- not know something you are aware of once you are aware of it, unless you happen to forget it. So being aware of trying to forget something almost cements it more firmly in our memory, rather than expunges it.  Purposely striving to forget, purposely striving to not let ONE hand know what the OTHER hand is doing, when both hands are controlled by the same brain seems impossible, so what does Christ mean by all this other than we are NOT to reward ourselves for what we are doing. We are NOT to pat ourselves on the back for what we are doing when we are living the life of a true disciple of our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ.

We like to be rewarded though, don't we? We like it when others notice our "goodness", our "extraordinariness".   This is not of Christ though and it MUST be repented of!

Did our Savior make Himself an earthly king taking obeisance from others because of His goodness?  No. Our Savior did not heap to Himself gold and precious jewels, He did not deck Himself out with the finest clothes, He did not set up a palace for Himself upon earth and He could have done ALL those things and more.

Mat 19:17  And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God…

Jesus said those words!

He would was only good always said- there is NONE good but ONE, that is GOD.

We know that God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit all exist as separate beings though they ALL AGREE as one.  When Jesus said that there is NONE good but ONE, that is GOD, He was talking of His Father whom He looked to always for all His strength and guidance. And in essence because He as God the Son agrees fully with His Father He was good too- however- He was NOT there on earth to promote Himself, but to promote His Father's Kingdom.  Everything He did was a finger pointing to the FATHER GOD. Jesus prayed to the Father, not to Himself.

He is our GREATEST example.  In obedience to HIM we do as He did.  He was SELFLESS! He took NO glory upon Himself.

By His GRACE alone may we LIVE as He commands us to live! Through His power alone! All to HIM in everything!

Righteousness Exceeding - Cost of Discipleship Pt 74

Chapter 13 - The Enemy -- the "Extraordinary"

Exceed

Strong's-
'- Transliteration: Perisseuo
- Definition:
1. to exceed a fixed number of measure, to be left over and above a certain number or measure
a. to be over, to remain
b. to exist or be at hand in abundance
1. to be great (abundant)
2. a thing which comes in abundance, or overflows unto one, something falls to the lot of one in large measure
3. to redound unto, turn out abundantly for, a thing
c. to abound, overflow
1. to be abundantly furnished with, to have in abundance, abound in (a thing), to be in affluence
2. to be pre-eminent, to excel
3. to excel more than, exceed
2. to make to abound
a. to furnish one richly so that he has abundance
b. to make abundant or excellent '

Bonhoeffer - 'What makes Christians different from other men is the "peculiar," the Perisseuo, the "extraordinary", the "unusual", that which is not "a matter of course." This is the quality by whereby the better righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees.'

Mat 5:20  For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.

My thoughts-

There IS a difference between those who are Christ's followers and all others. This difference is extraordinary and it does exceed the righteousness that the chosen people, the Israelites, those closest to God in history, the priests- the scribes, the Pharisees- it exceeds all of their righteousness, those who appeared to be most righteous.

To pretend we are all just the same is foolishness, yet at the same time the Christian will be the FIRST to recognize their own inferior self next to the worst of sinners, and NOT condemn the basest of criminals. The Christian can comprehend their own sinful state, their own guilt in the cross, and because they comprehend that guilt they KNOW they have no right to think of themselves as superior to ANYONE!

The Christian is extraordinary, their righteousness exceeding that of those who are not Christ's, and it exceeds it ONLY in comprehending the cross and NO WHERE else. Their good works mean NOTHING! Their own righteousness means NOTHING! It is Christ's righteousness which they claim as heirs with Him. 

Bonhoeffer- 'How does this quality work out in practice ? The "extraordinary" -- and this is the supreme scandal-- is something which the followers of Jesus do.

It must be done like the better righteousness, and done so that all men can see it. It is NOT strict Puritanism, not some eccentric pattern of Christian living, but simple unreflecting obedience to the will of Christ. If we make the "extraordinary" our standard, we shall be led into the passio of Christ, and in that its peculiar quality will be displayed. This activity itself is ceaseless suffering.  In it the disciple endures the suffering of Christ. If this is not so, then this is not the activity of which Jesus speaks.

Hence the perisseuo is the fulfilment of the law, the keeping of the commandments. In Christ crucified and in his people the "extraordinary" becomes reality.

These men are the perfect, the men in whom the undivided love of the Heavenly Father is perfected. It was that love which gave the Son to die for us upon the cross, and it is by suffering in the fellowship of this cross that the followers of Jesus are perfected. The perfect are none other than the blessed of the beatitudes.'

My thoughts--

Obedience to the will of Christ.

And for all those who say Christ asks nothing of His followers, please, read your Bibles. Read them, study them.

Being a follower of Christ IS exhibiting a Christ follower's LIFE.  That life doesn't mean perfection in the sense the Christian will appear impeccable in all things.  A follower of Christ will struggle under the weight of spiritual warfare. A follower of Christ will OBEY the WILL of CHRIST!  And we are told this--

Rev_3:19  As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.

Heb 12:2  Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Heb 12:3  For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.
Heb 12:4  Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.
Heb 12:5  And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:
Heb 12:6  For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
Heb 12:7  If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?
Heb 12:8  But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.
Heb 12:9  Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?
Heb 12:10  For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.
Heb 12:11  Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.

TRUTH!

REALITY!

Do you really want to be a follower of Christ, an adopted son of the Heavenly Father? Then you must OBEY your Heavenly Father in all things! You must obey Christ in all things! You must comprehend that your life as a Christ follower will be a difficult one, an EXTRAORDINARY life because it is IN HIM!

Please LORD bless us, keep us, forgive us, love us!

Please!

Thank you, LORD.

All glory, praise, and honor unto You LORD GOD ALMIGHTY, JESUS CHRIST OUR SAVIOR now and forever!

Father Forgive Them (My Killers) - Cost of Discipleship Pt 73

Chapter 13 - The Enemy -- the "Extraordinary"

Bonhoeffer- 'The love for our enemies takes us along the way of the cross and into fellowship with the crucified. The more we are driven along this road, the more certain is the victory of love over the enemy's hatred. For then it is not the disciple's own love, but the love of Jesus Christ alone, who for the sake of his enemies went to the cross and prayed for them as he hung there. In the face of the cross the disciples realized that they too were his enemies, and he had overcome them by his love. It is this that opens the disciple's eyes and enables him to see his enemy as his brother. He know that he owes his very life to One, who though he was his enemy, treated him as a brother and accepted him, who made him his neighbor, and drew him into fellowship with himself. The disciple can now perceive that even his enemy is the object of God's love, and he stands like himself beneath the cross of Christ. God asks us nothing about our virtues or vices, for in his sight even our virtue was ungodliness. God's love sought out his enemies who needed it, and who he deemed worthy of it. God loves his enemies -- that is the glory of his love, as every follower of Jesus knows; through Jesus he has become a partaker in this love. For God allows his sun to shine upon the just and the unjust. But it is not only the earthly sun and the earthly rain: the "Sun of Righteousness", and the rain of God's word which are on the sinner, and reveal the grace of the Heavenly Father.  Perfect all-inclusive is the act of the Father, it is also the act of the sons of God as it was the act of the only-begotten Son.'

My thoughts-

Luk 23:34  Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.

Mat_5:45  That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

Mal_4:2  But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.

*******

Upon His cross...in excruciating pain, feeling agony unlike we can know, our Savior asked the Father to forgive those who were crucifying Him.

Our Savior PRAYED to the FATHER to forgive those killing Him! 

Our Savior believed that if they really understood what they were doing, if they really knew they were killing the Son of God, then they wouldn't have done it. But they didn't know what they were doing.  To them all they were doing was following orders. They were killing yet another criminal.  There were three right then they were putting to death and to them, not one was different than the other, they were all guilty and sentenced to death. They didn't know, and Jesus did not want them to have the weight of that sin laid to their charge. Jesus wanted His murderers forgiven.

Forgiveness.

Loving our enemies. Doing good to our enemies. Praying for our enemies.  This is all a part of forgiveness. 

We know this--

Mat 6:14  For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you

If we do NOT love our enemies then we do NOT forgive them. If we do NOT forgive them, then we are NOT forgiven.

We can't say we are Christ's and forgiven by Christ, saved by Christ, and continue to hate others, even those others who say we have a right to hate- our enemies.

And our hate is displayed in many ways.

People might think hate is only manifested vehemently, but that's not true. You can hate someone and never express it or show any negative emotion towards them.  You can hate someone simply by ignoring their needs, this is truth. Indifference can be hatred.  We need to LOVE and love is active.  We need to love ALL and hate NONE. We can hate their deeds, but not them.  As we hate the deeds of sin we must love the one sinning and pray for the one sinning just as our Savior loves us and prays for us- sinners.

Our Savior LOVED from the cross, and He LOVED those killing him!

We can scarcely love those who love us, let alone love those who hate us.  Only by the mercy of our Savior and the gift of the Holy Spirit will we be able to love, truly love.

All in HIM ALWAYS IN HIM! OUR SAVIOR, OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST.

Pray for your enemies - Cost of Discipleship Pt 72

Chapter 13 - The Enemy -- the "Extraordinary"

Mat 5:44  But I say unto you, Love your enemies, ...and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you

Bonhoeffer- 'This is the supreme demand. Through the medium of prayer we go to our enemy ,stand by his side and plead for him to God. Jesus does not promise that when we bless our enemies and do good to them that they will not despitefully use and persecute us . They certainly will. But not even that can hurt or overcome us ,so long as we pray for them. For if we pray for them, we are taking their distress and poverty , their guilt and perdition upon ourselves , and pleading to God for them.  We are doing vicariously for them what they cannot do for themselves. Every insult they utter only serves to bind us more closely to God and them. Their persecution of us only serves to bring them nearer to reconciliation with  God and to further the triumphs of love.'

My thoughts--

Prayer. Praying for someone, making supplication for another person. Seeking God, asking for His intervention in another's life.  When we seek God asking Him to be with those who are hurting us, we are recognizing the NEED our persecutor has of God. We are comprehending that the person abusing us needs forgiveness- God's forgiveness, our forgiveness.  We are understanding the VALUE our Savior places upon EVERYONE!  We have NO way of knowing who will be God's and who will not.  The worst of offenders may plead for forgiveness and accept Christ into His life, while the mildest, meekest person who never offended anyone in their lives will NOT accept Christ as their Savior.

We don't know, we can't know.

We are told by our Savior to PRAY for those who are our enemies.  We don't know the even if our enemies will be Christ's or not, but we MUST pray that they will be!

Even knowing the majority of people will NOT be Christ's when He comes, we must pray for all and NEVER ever become complacent in our salvation.

Our life is one of discipleship to our Savior and that means comprehending His words, His instructions to us, and living by them, making them a part of our lives. 

When He tells us to PRAY for our enemies He means for us to PRAY for them, truly pray for them.

Bonhoeffer's saying this-- ' Their persecution of us only serves to bring them nearer to reconciliation with  God and to further the triumphs of love.'  

-- seems strange, doesn't it? Whenever we are persecuted and we do PRAY for those persecuting us, we are bringing the nearer to GOD.   It makes sense, doesn't it?  Remember this--

Act 16:22  And the multitude rose up together against them: and the magistrates rent off their clothes, and commanded to beat them.
Act 16:23  And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailor to keep them safely:
Act 16:24  Who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks.
Act 16:25  And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.
Act 16:26  And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one's bands were loosed.
Act 16:27  And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled.
Act 16:28  But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we are all here.
Act 16:29  Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas,
Act 16:30  And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?
Act 16:31  And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.
Act 16:32  And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house.
Act 16:33  And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway.
Act 16:34  And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house.
Act 16:35  And when it was day, the magistrates sent the serjeants, saying, Let those men go.
Act 16:36  And the keeper of the prison told this saying to Paul, The magistrates have sent to let you go: now therefore depart, and go in peace.

Paul and Silas beaten and imprisoned- prayed and sang songs!
Their jailor was ready to kill himself when he thought they'd escaped, and instead that jailer accepted Christ and was baptized.

They PRAYED.

One who was IMPRISONING them was SAVED.

We have NO way of knowing what the result of our prayers will be.  We do know prayer WORKS. Prayer is NECESSARY. Jesus prayed!  It's a blessing to have the ability to pray to our God. It is a blessing to be able to pray for our enemies knowing that we are bringing them up to God and by HIS grace bringing them closer to SALVATION in CHRIST.

All through HIM!

Do good to those who hate you - Cost of Discipleship Pt 71

Chapter 13 - The Enemy -- the "Extraordinary"

Mat 5:44  ...do good to them that hate you…

Bonhoeffer- 'We must love not only in thought and word, but in deed, and there are opportunities of service in every circumstance of daily life.

Rom 12:20  Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink…

My thoughts-

Our deeds.
Our actions.

These reveal so much about us, don't they?

We can say we love, we can shout we love, but all the while our actions are saying we don't love at all.

What do we do?

Today I was listening to a sermon called, 'The Anatomy of Faith', and one of the points being made was our KEEPING the faith of Jesus.  The word KEEP meaning the following-

1. to attend to carefully, take care of
a. to guard
b. metaph. to keep, one in the state in which he is
c. to observe

When we KEEP the faith of Jesus we are ACTIVELY attending, guarding, observing and what are we attending, guarding, observing?

Rom_10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Faith we are keeping the FAITH of JESUS and FAITH comes by HEARING and HEARING by the WORD of GOD. We are keeping God's WORD! We are actively guarding, observing, attending to the WORD of GOD.  We are doing this in a very literally way! The words we HEAR are meant to be kept close to our hearts, not discarded as if they are merely being spoken to pass time, or entertain us.  Faith is a REAL thing, not something that doesn't exist. 

Heb_11:1  Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

It is SUBSTANCE, it is REAL. It is a REAL HOPE, a SOLID HOPE, and the EVIDENCE, the PROOF of things NOT SEEN.

NOT SEEN!

But HEARD. Remember- faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.

We must HEAR the word of God if we would have FAITH.  It must be a REAL ACTIVE HEARING.

We are to love others and that LOVE must be REAL in our doing GOOD to them that HATE US!

They hate us!

HATE US.  DETEST US. PERSECUTE US.

We are to LOVE THEM!

And if we are to love those who HATE us, it's already a given that we are doing good to those we love, right? Shouldn't we be?

Luk_6:33  And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same.

It's a lot easier to do good to those who do good to you, right? But to do good to those who hate you, that is truly much more difficult, and I’m going to say nigh unto impossible without CHRIST living in us!

We shouldn't hesitate to say that WE cannot love our enemies, WE cannot do good to those who hate us, because it's true!  ONLY CHRIST IN US CAN MAKE THIS LOVE POSSIBLE, BECAUSE IT IS HIS LOVE!

His LOVE!

Love them! Do good to them! All through CHRIST'S POWER, not any of your own!

All though HIS GRACE, HIS MERCY, HIS LOVE, AMAZING WONDERFUL LOVE!

Please Lord, live in us, love in us!

Bless those who curse us - Cost of Discipleship Pt 70

Chapter 13 - The Enemy -- the "Extraordinary"

Mat 5:44  But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you

Persecute you.

Bonhoeffer- '"Bless them that persecute you." If our enemy cannot put up with us any longer and takes to cursing us, our immediate reaction must be to lift up our hands and bless him. Our enemies are blessed of the Lord. Their curse can do us no harm. May their poverty be enriched with all the riches of God, with the blessing of Him whom they seek to oppose in vain. We are ready to endure their curses so long as they redound to their blessing.'

My thoughts-

How many read that and found it all but impossible to imagine?

Blessing one who is cursing you.

First of all, when we are being cursed at the feelings those curses cause to rise up in us generally are no where near the sort that would have us wanting to bless anyone, right?

It's that knee jerk, gut reaction we've honed to perfection over the years- respond in KIND, give as you are getting.  The idea of blessing one who is actively cursing us, it's all but unthinkable, isn't it?  We're being cursed! The awful flood of negative reactions that creates in us leave very little room, alright, no room at all for blessings, right?

Seriously, we respond with hurt, anger, but seldom, if not at all, with blessings.

We feel abused wrongly when we are cursed, believing that no matter what's happened we do NOT deserve to be cursed.

Bonhoeffer says, 'our immediate reaction must be to lift up our hands and bless him'.  Our immediate reaction to bless those persecuting us. He goes on to say, 'Their curse can do us no harm.'  This is true isn't?  The harm it commits is wounding our feelings and producing un-Christlike reactions in us, which if we were to respond with a blessing, it would NOT do!

If we do as our Savior instructs us to do, we are NOT sinning in kind!

If we do as our Savior instructs we are REVEALING CHRIST to the one persecuting, cursing us. 

The blessing we give to them- what should it be?  What do you imagine you should ask for as a blessing to one who is hurting you? Should it be a generic blessing, asking God to bless them as He knows they have need of a blessing? Should it be something more? Truly it's probably a situation of deciding such a thing in the moment, but imagine someone cursing you, go on, imagine it.  What does the imagining bring to mind, besides that instant hurt feeling, pained reaction?  Using your imagination let's go do away with that self-centered reaction and listen to our Savior's instruction.  We are cursed and as the cursing assaults us we…  maybe close our eyes and pray silently, or perhaps we don’t even close our eyes, but we instantly pray-  Lord, please bless this person cursing me. 

The prayer takes our minds off ourselves, doesn't it, shouldn't it?

Isn't this what our Savior has been trying to teach us all along? To LOVE OUR NEIGHBORS, to LOVE GOD?  NOT to simply focus all on ourselves.  There is NO commandment to selfish love, not one.  Loving others as we love ourselves means to love others as we desire love, not necessarily as we are loved, or love/like ourselves. No commandment saying LOVE YOURSELF, PUT YOURSELF FIRST.

Even when we are being abused, the abuser comes first.   It sound so WRONG, doesn't it? But we've abused God so much, our every sin has abused Him, and He put us first! Did Christ put His abusers first?

Luk_23:34  Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.

And Christ tells us--

Mat 5:44  But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you

Did our Savior mean what He said?  Is this truth He is speaking to us?  Would He ask us to do the impossible?

Mar_11:25  And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.
Mar_11:26  But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.

Would He ask us to FORGIVE if He thought it was impossible to do so?

Mat_19:26  But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.

WITH GOD all things are possible!

Jesus is NOT asking us to do any of those things without HIM, only WITH HIM, only as HIS FOLLOWERS, HIS DISCIPLES!

Sure, if we try to bless anyone that curses us, we won't be able to- but Christ in us can do that.

We need to decide if we are truly Christ's disciples or if we are simply pretending to be His disciples.

If we are truly Christ's disciples we must LIVE as His disciples, IN HIM, THROUGH HIM! 

All by HIS AMAZING LOVE AND GRACE!