"But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return." - Luke 6:35
Jamie and I were talking today on the phone and I asked her a question. The question was basically, "Does God love me in order to get me to do stuff for Him?" A lot of people would have you believe so.
But how is it that Jesus, God Himself, can say that the Law says to lend, expecting nothing in return, and yet we believe that God does expect something in return?
Does God bless me and love me to get me to do stuff for Him or just because He loves me and He delights in doing good to me?
Am I saying that I don't get full of the love of Jesus and it spills into the lives of others? Absolutely not! But is God's motivation in giving grace and love so that I will return the favor? Absolutely not! "Even sinners lend to sinners to give back the same amount." (Luke 6:34)
God gives blessing, love and grace because He loves you, not because He expects anything from you.
Wallow in the love of God, freely. There are no hidden fees.
6 comments:
I have alot of questions on about 99.9% of the sermon on the mount. The object of your post being one of them, I know that it was taught by Jesus to show how far we fall short of the law, but there is alot of things in there that doesn't seem to fall into that explanation and it puzzles me. Perhaps its just because I am so new to the grace message and am still struggling to be able to read the bible at all again. Anyway, I appreciated hearing what you had to say, I didn't mean to go on, it just hit upon alot of whirling thoughts I have been trying to understand.
Ron
Excellent!!!
What do we have that He did not provide for us??
It is easy to open your hands and bless others when He continuously refills them with good things! :)
Love (agape) is NOT self-seeking!
Ron,
I have had the same struggles and I still do. But, one thing I remind myself when I come across a passage or a verse which don't really lineup with the grace and unconditional love of God, is to remind myself of the death of Christ on the cross. His death was the ultimatum from His side and there is no argument which we can make against it. It's the ultimate display of love!
Reminding myself about His suffering and death (for my sake) helps me to see His love beyond law/requirement/do's/dont's etc
I second what Bino said. When you come to a Scripture you do not understand, go back to what you DO understand and realize that it cannot be both. It cannot be grace and law. It cannot be Jesus plus anything.
Great Post. The more that I understand Grace the more that I realize that God expects one thing and one thing only for me. To seek after Him allowing the Holy Spirit to live through me.
Out of this choice often times good things come. But, I am unable to CHOOSE to do those good things on a consistent basis. All I can do is seek after Christ.
Thank you.
Post a Comment