Living Up

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE

LIVING UP

Luke 6:32-36

32 "If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' do that.   34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' lend to 'sinners,' expecting to be repaid in full. 35 But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. 36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

NIV

We are to live as children of God rather than children of men. These sinners, or the original language implies pagans, live well with each other. This pagan word carries the implication of people with no religion, which in this case, Jesus means those who are not his followers, who have not accepted him as the Lord. He is telling us we need to live differently than those who live according to the law of men. Surely he says even the sinners, do this and that. Men who do not know him as Savior still live according to some a semblance of rightness, loving those who love them, doing good to each other and lending for repayment. All that is not bad in itself, that is the way most people may live, but Jesus is calling his followers to a higher standard. This is the gospel of love. What does Jesus expect? For God so loved the world he gave Jesus. Men hate God, yet he came as a man to die for them. This is how we are to behave toward all people, even the ones we don’t like. There is the rub. There are some people which just rub us the wrong way, so how are we supposed to love them? But if we are only nice or love each other, than what credit is that to us? If we just hang out with other believers, all the time condemning the ways of the world, we might well take on the attitude of judgment, thinking better of ourselves than we should. Why can’t they see the truth, they are so closed-minded, or just plain dumb. We are so smart, we see the truth. When we start to separate ourselves from them, dividing the saved from the lost, we may be in danger of not loving them, even those who call us closed, or weak minded for believing in Jesus. Here is where the rubber meets the road, for we are to be kind to them, love them, and be merciful to those who are not believers in Jesus. Do we do that in the face of death? It appears that is the standard Jesus set. Do we live up to that?