Christlikeness

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE

CHRISTLIKENESS

Luke 6:27-31

27 "But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. 29 If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. 30 Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. 31 Do to others as you would have them do to you.

NIV            

This is a life of total commitment to Christ. It does not matter who does what, or who likes us or doesn’t like us, in other words, our commitment to living a life in Christ means that we are not a person of responses, behaving in accordance to what someone does to us, or says something about us, or to us that is less than Christlikeness, we still exhibit the love of Christ. This may happen in the world more often than we want to admit, at least if we are being the image bearer of God, and letting our light shine. There are times when non-believers, although they might be intelligent and have some great cause, like the environment or climate change, or humanitarian relief programs when it comes to accepting what we say or stand for, tell us we are nuts, or off our rocker to believe such hogwash that Jesus lived, died, was buried and was raised from the dead, and ascended back to heaven, then because all that, we are going to have eternal life. Most of the time that type of person is not the kindest if we are speaking up, taking our stand, and allowing the glory of God to reflect in us. But the thing that can be troubling is there can be this same type of dissension or non-loving behavior in the community of faith, the church. The establishment of cliques that exclude someone in need of friendship, or fellowship does not line up with living a Christ-like life or following the commands Jesus had laid out for us. This "Do to others as we would have them do unto us" forms the wholeness of being a Christian. In other words, if we want to be loved, then we must love. If we want fellowship, we must extend fellowship. If we want a friend, we must be a friend to them. If we want acceptance, we must give acceptance.  If we want or need forgiveness, we must first forgive. This applies also within a marriage. If all that is said and done is in accordance with Christ, then love will abound, and acceptance, forgiveness, friendship, and fellowship all will flourish. It all comes down to living a life of love, that which Jesus said was the greatest of all commands. What we have to come to grips with is defining what love means in our daily living, as we follow Jesus.