Love Your Enemies Because Jesus Loves You

Proverbs 25:21-22

If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; if he is thirsty, give him water to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head, and the LORD will reward you.


Let's face it, it's tough to love our enemies.  After somebody has just been a jerk to you, you don't really feel like helping them out.  How much do you want to serve someone who is always mean and disrespectful to you?

Notice that this Proverb isn't saying that we need to start hanging out with our enemies and spend hour-upon-hour socializing with them.  What it is saying is when you see your enemy in need, help him out.

If your enemy is a co-worker look for ways to serve her.  Grab her a cup of coffee when you go to grab one for yourself.  Share information with him if you know that he is struggling on a project.  Take her to lunch if she has just been kicked in the teeth by a client or a prospect.

If your enemy is at church take the time to get to know him.  Let him know that you have a problem with him, and be clear about why that is.  Then give him a chance to explain himself.  Sincerely try to understand him.  Try to see the world from his perspective.  What are some of his experiences that influence his attitude?  After this you may still not be friends, but you will gain more respect for each other.

When you make this effort to love your enemies you may only get more venom in return.  If you are truly one of God's children, then you need to do this no matter how the other person responds to your efforts.  Jesus didn't command us to win our enemies, He commanded us to love our enemies.  The reward for all of your love me only be "the heaping of burning coals on their head".  Meaning that your display of love will expose them to the world, and to themselves.  This doesn't mean that they will thank you for your love and kindness; they may grow to hate you even more, because your love has exposed their hateful heart to themself.

No matter what the response is, keep serving them...keep loving them.  They need it most of all.  Be thankful that Jesus kept loving you, even when you didn't appreciate everything He has done for you.  There was a day when you were Jesus' enemy.  He died for you even though you still have days when you treat Him with contempt and in-gratitude.

We can love our enemies, because while we were still sinners Jesus died for us.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Jason Fredrick

Quote of the Week- August Pieper

Woe to our Synod, if it says with the angel (bishop) of the church of Laodicea, Revelation 3:17,  "I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing!"  Woe to our people and to us "angels" of our people, that is, to us professors, pastors, and teachers, visitors, presidents, officials, and commissions, if we in the present circumstances of our spiritual life try to persuade ourselves that there is no need of a spiritual renewal, by saying, "Spiritual life is indeed not as fresh and vigorous in me as it one was and as it ought to be, but it is still there, and not much weaker than elsewhere.  It is the natural course of events; all life, spiritual life included, gradually diminishes, and there is nothing that can be done about it.  No one can instill new spiritual life into himself- only God can do that.  The matter must be committed to Him, who doubtless knows how to save His elect even in times such as these, and I hope, me too!"--Whoever thinks thus, reveals the spirit of the church of Laodicea.  This is that Laodicean laxity that a person is not truly aware of the danger in which he is, but is rather well satisfied with his own spiritual condition.  One's own spiritual deficiencies go unnoticed and life goes on in a carefree manner.  Oh, yes, the deficiencies of others are noticed indeed, are deplored and condemned, but of the beam in one's own eye no notice is taken.  How much of this complacency, that in comparison with others we are still rather pious, is not found among us!  This is little more than mere spiritual weakness.  It is hypocritical Pharisaism.

Only he who is convinced  that he himself is in need of spiritual renewal, first and foremost, has the right and the duty to pronounce the judgment that the Church of his time is in need of a spiritual renewal.  All reconstruction must begin at home.

(August Pieper, The True Reconstruction of the Church, p. 4)

Quote of the Week- August Pieper

When things have to a great extent gone so far, that the knowledge of God has become insignificant, faith has become a reed shaken in the wind, love has become cold, the whole life of faith has become weak and feeble, whereas satisfaction with the world and the cares for the things of this life have seized hold of the hearts of the Christians, particularly of the angels, i.e., the shepherds of the congregations, when the spiritual life, the spiritual character threatens to become extinct, then the disintegration of the Church has begun; then a reconstruction, that is, a regeneration, a renewal of spiritual life must set in, or it will perish in the abyss of spiritual death.
(August Pieper, The True Reconstruction of the Church, p.3)

"The Devil Made Me Do It"- But You're Still Left Holding the Bag

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Have you ever had someone give you the sage advice, "You should..."?  It seems like everyone knows exactly what you should do.  Who you should be.  If all of these geniuses are so wise, how come they don't take their own advice?  How come their life is such a mess?
The reality is that "You should..." is always unsolicited advice by people who don't have a clue.  Some of them may even be well-intentioned.  They might actually believe that they are trying to help you.  But the reality is that their advice is worth as much as Satan's advice to Eve in the Garden of Eden.

Does that sound harsh?
Think about it.  Satan deceived Eve (Gen. 3:1-6) and gave her advice for his own purpose.  Often times, free advice is for the same purpose:  The other person is trying to get you to do something for their gain. This isn't always sinful and evil like it was in the Garden of Eden, but bad choices from bad advice always have long-term consequences and always impact more people than just yourself. Do you ever wonder why Eve didn't ask the serpent any questions?  Do you ever fall into the same trap with people and just believe what they are telling you, never asking a single question to test the validity of the advice giver?

What if when Satan said, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the Garden'?"  Eve would have answered, "Why wouldn't He let us eat from any tree?  That doesn't make any sense."  And then quoted what God did say.
But instead, what did she do?  She started answering Satan's questions, being led down the path he wanted her to go never stopping to think about what he was doing, or where he was leading her.

After she sinned and was later confronted with her sin by God, what was her response?  The devil made me do it! (this isn't exactly what she said, but it is the essence of what she said)  In this instance the serpent was punished for his role in the fall, but Adam and Eve also felt the consequences.  One moment of selfishness tainted all of God's creation for the rest of time.  Every person who has ever lived, and who will ever live, get to feel the consequences of Eve's moment of self-indulgence.

Sadly, we see that same thing play out in our lives, and in our world, everyday.  People don't think!  They don't think about the immediate consequences of their actions.  They don't think about the long-term ramifications of the choices.  They certainly don't give any thought to who else is going to be effected by their choices and actions.  In our sinful, self-indulgent world people relive this incident from the Garden of Eden everyday in their own life:

Satan and his servants attack God's Word.

People step into his snare and, like Eve, begin to question God's Word.

Their own desire gets the best of them.

They indulge their sin for a moment of pleasure.

They abort (murder) their child.

They get fired from their job.

They end up in jail.

They end up dead and damned.

Satan laughs with evil glee the entire time.

The reality is- our choices have consequences.  The consequences aren't just for us, they are for the people in our sphere of influence.  They are for generations to come.  

None of us lives in a vacuum.  So none of our choices only affect us alone.

Sadly, sometimes we think that we can outsmart God and indulge our sinful nature and "get away with it".  There's only two problems with that:

1. God is all-knowing.
2. God is present everywhere, all of the time.

Nothing that happens in the world happens without God knowing about it.  In fact, He knew about it before you were even born, before He created the world.  You aren't getting away with anything.  Even if it were possible to "get away with it", God has put the Law of Cause and Effect in place in our world.  There would still be consequences for your sinful behavior.  It would still hurt you, and the people you claim to care about.

We need to give careful consideration to the choices we make in our life...to the choices we make every day.  Our choices don't have to have negative results.  Through faith in Jesus Christ we are empowered to make good choices.  We have been given the ability to live lives that please God and make decisions based on God's commands.  Through the Holy Spirit, we have been given the ability to positively affect our world.  We have been given the ability to leave a Godly legacy.

Thankfully, this is possible because Jesus fulfilled that promise that God made to Adam and Eve:

And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; He will crush your head, and you will strike His heel.

-Genesis 3:15

This promise was fulfilled when Jesus was crucified on Calvary, to pay the price for all of our sins, and then was raised to life again on Easter morning.  

Graciously, Jesus lived a perfect human life, died for our sins, and raised from the dead to redeem us from the power of sin, death, and hell.  

Thankfully, God has given us His Word to measure all of those You shoulds against.  He has given us His Word; it's our responsibility to read and study it every day.  Do you want to start making better choices in life?  Study God's Word and do what He says.

If you don't know why you believe what you believe, you will fall for Satan's lies every time.  The devil may make you do it, but you will still be held responsible; the consequences are still very real.

God bless.

Jason Fredrick

Quote of the Week: Speed of Trust

Trust is a function of both character and competence.
(Speed of Trust, p. 25, Covey)

Watch and Pray, Jesus Is Coming Back Soon!

Matthew 26:40-41

Then He returned to His disciples and found them sleeping.  "Couldn't you men keep watch with Me for one hour?"  He asked Peter.  "Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.  The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak."

As we observe the season of "End Times" on the church calendar, do you ever stop to think about what Jesus' response will be to you on the last day?  Will it be this same reaction that he had to Peter, James, and John on that night in Gethsemane?

Just as those men fell asleep waiting for Jesus to come back to them from praying, the temptation is great for us to fall asleep while waiting for Jesus to come back to us.  Jesus has promised that He is coming back.  In Scripture He gives all kinds of warnings about His return.  He wants us to stay alert and be ready for it.  He doesn't tell us when that will be, all that we know is that it will be soon.

But how soon  is soon?  As believers, we want soon to be today.  Or even better, now!  Since Jesus isn't coming back on our demand or timetable, we need to listen to His admonishment from the Garden of Gethsemane:  Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.

We don't know when Jesus is coming back.  We don't know the day or the hour.  We need to be constantly watching for Him.  One of the best ways to keep our eyes on the skies is by praying.  Praying is the best way to keep our focus on Jesus, and to avoid the temptations and distractions of this world.  It would benefit us all to keep praying for the strength and wisdom to overcome the weakness of our flesh, because no matter how much we try to honor God's commands in all that we do and say we constantly come up short.  We allow that spiritual sleepiness to overtake us.  That's why we can never hear this reminder from Jesus enough.  Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.

God bless

Jason Fredrick

Quote of the Week: Courage-The Backbone of Leadership

Courageous leading begins with honoring all persons, regardless of rank, status, education, or power.
(Courage, Gus Lee, p.141)