How Does The Gospel Of Luke Relate To The Crucible
When someone hurts your feelings, what do you do? Do you let that steal the joy God has given you? Or do you allow your imagination and your feelings run wild?
The Gospel of Luke tells us what we should do when people hurt us: “But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.”1 Does God know what he is saying? Is he actually telling us to love the people who hate us and pray from them? God is asking us to pray for the people that persecute us. Before I took hold of my life I would always pray in vain. I would make superficial prayers such as "Oh, Lord, be with them" or “Oh Lord even though they are terrible people and I don’t like them, make them happy.” …show more content…
These prayers were said, but they were never meant from the heart. I would just say them so make myself feel better.
Although it is really hard to do, especially in that moment, but as Christians we should be willing to do it in obedience to God and say, "Lord, I pray that even though these people have persecuted me, and hated me, and humiliated me, I'll still pray in faith, because you’re telling me to bless them with Your presence." Luke goes further and tells us: “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.”2
There are a lot of things that we as Christians can do to help us follow the gift of forgiveness. Now, let's get practical about how to do this. If we have a coworker who gets the promotion that we've been believing God give us, the minute we start to feel jealousy and envy, we need to go buy them a gift. Yes, that’s right! I said it, buy them a gift. It works. When we do it, it breaks the power of the devil because St. Paul says that “we overcome evil with good.”3 It's absolutely true too. I have learned this principle and it has changed my life in so many ways. God has given me the ability to love the coworker that took the position I wanted, and he has shown me the path that he wants me to take with him
One day after mass, I went to go eat with some friends who needed to tell me about a person who was spreading rumors about me. When they told me this, at first I got mad and just wanted to tell him things that could deduct points from me getting into heaven, and in a way my imagination got the better of me. My mind was telling me to do things that my spirit was trying to get me to refrain from doing. I chose to take it to the person that I hurt every time I do anything wrong. Jesus. He gave me the strength to persevere. But in bed that night, the Holy Spirit said to me, "You're not going to do what you want to do." He said, "No, you're going to do what you teach. You're going to go buy him a present, and you're going to tell him how much you appreciate the services that he's given all these years." Needless to say, I resisted at first. It took me about a week to get myself to do this, but eventually I relented and bought him a gift.
There have been many times that I chose to listen to myself rather than God. For instance, my brother was not allowed to watch movies for a period of time, and because I knew he had a laptop and was continuing to watch movies online. I took it upon myself to get the laptop and block all the movie sites. What that the way to go about it? Was that what God wanted for me? Is that how that situation should have been handled? It wasn’t until I told one of my family members and at that moment they asked me “Was that really necessary?” I thought to myself… “I myself wasn’t perfect; I had flaws just as worse as he did. Instead I chose to make his known.” All humans are sinful beings. We aren’t perfect. Even with that, Jesus is able to forgive all our sins, all our debts, all our transgressions. Why can’t we? The idea of putting your forgiveness in another person’s hand is undoubtedly difficult. Yet with Jesus, it can become undoubtedly easy.
The way to perfection is through the Cross. It is living as Jesus did. It is kicking out the devil and making way for Him, The Great I Am, the King of Kings, the Prince of Peace. He is the only one that can give us the strength we need to love our enemy’s. He is the only one who can help us separate the sin from the sinner. We hate the sin but love the sinner.
Forgiveness in its most powerful state is in the great sacrament of confession. There is no greater love experienced then that of God in confession. The grace God gives us in that moment, exceeds all space and time. The faith that we seek, and the faith that we know has the power to move mountains, the ability to convert a person’s heart, and most importantly it has the will to convert yours. Forgiveness is the key to living a good Christian life. Without it, we fail to truly know who God is.
At this moment I want you to think of all the times you have hurt someone. Think about how it could or did affect that person. Think about how that one action could have changed that person as a whole. If you could go back in time and change one hurtful thing what would it be?
Since time travel has not been put out onto the market yet, are there times you wish you could go back and undo what you did? If you said yes, then realize you are not perfect. You make mistakes just as I do. As a Christian we need to be able to not only forgive those who hurt us, but we need to be able to forgive ourselves. When I was in Junior High and High school, I was a horrible person. I chose to make fun of people, take behind peoples back, and lie to get my ways. And it wasn’t until I started truly seeking God through mass and through personal prayer that I saw the person I was, and the person God wanted me to be. I had so much guilt for the people I hurt. I was too caught up with the things that people did to me, that I didn’t realize the log that was stuck in my own eye. I had to learn that there are two steps in forgiveness. Step 1: Forgive others, Step 2: Forgive yourself. God knows we are not perfect. He knows that we will fall. It is not that that he is concerned about. It is how we chose to pick ourselves up.
Is a part of you longing for the forgiveness not only from God, but from yourself? Do you love yourself the way God loves you? There are many ways to forgive yourselves, and many steps that you can do to get you to that point. For instance, you can write a letter to the person you hurt. Explaining why you are sorry and that you are seeking forgiveness. You can choose to send it or not. Either way writing it down on paper is very therapeutic and can turn the guilt you hold onto into love. (Love covers a multitude of sin scripture in here.)
What I remember most about the situation is that as soon as I started taking action to do something good for them, the whole situation just got so funny to me. I found myself laughing at the situation as a whole. Because what I didn’t realize before was that, although I was hurt and humiliated, I didn’t see that the person spreading rumors about me might be hurt and humiliated as well. What if he was hurt and needed to vent, and just didn’t know how to do it in a Christian manner? In some way or another, we have all hut at least one person. Jesus. It is because of our sins that he chose death over life. He chose good over bad. And yet we still fall, but God still loves us. It is through knowing the story of Jesus that we can better attain self- control over our thoughts, over our actions, and over our life. Jesus can make people change. He made me change in ways I never saw coming. He helped me see that in order to continue on the path he has given me, I need to be able to forgive those who persecute me love your enemy’s and forgive yourself.
When we can look at people who've hurt us with compassion and pray what Jesus prayed "…Father, forgive them for they know not what they do" there's a party that goes on inside of us. I think most of the time people don't even realize what they are doing. That man who was talking about me had no idea what he was doing and the position that he was putting himself in. Yet he did it! He chose to go into the unknown and live among humans, so that eternal salvation can be fulfilled.
Have you been put in a position that has made you feel hurt? Humiliated? Angry? When someone does this to you, what is usually your response? Are the actions you make from God himself, or from you? Are the actions you make hurtful to you spiritual journey with God? All these questions are great to ask yourself when you find yourself in times of trouble. Giving your life to Jesus is not easy if you intend to do it yourself…But in the presence of our God and Savior anything is possible, including loving those who hate us.
That is the very motive why praying for those who persecute you and say, "God forgive them." In truth, what does God say will happen to us when we obey Him?
Luke says "…and then your recompense (your reward) will be great (rich, strong, intense, and abundant), and you will be sons of the Most High…."5 God tells us that we'll receive a reward. We will get double for our trouble if we will do things His way. Just think! If we choose good over evil, light over darkness, God over the devil… when can have so much more then we can imagine. Our reward in heaven will surpass all that is on earth. It will exceed all expectations, it will give light to all darkness, and it will give us total and complete …show more content…
grace!
The bible says that love covers a multitude of sins. Do you know what that means? It means that love will have you helping those who persecuted you, those who hurt you, those who have done wrong to you. Someone might come up to us and say, "Well, I heard what this person did and what that person did to you."
When we whole-heartedly decide to pray for those and pray the prayer that blesses our enemies, making the decision that we will not talk bad about them, but instead, cover their fault and their mess, we still might not feel any different. “In the moment when I truly understand my enemy, understand him well enough to defeat him, then in that very moment I also love him.”6 This quote is from one of my all-time favorite movie.
Enders Game! Now im not writing this so that you can go and defeat all the people who hurt you… I am simply writing this because once you understand your enemy to the point of knowing the reason why they act certain ways… it is then that you can whole-heartedly love them. There comes a time in a persons life that angers and frustration builds up so much that it turns into hate. And hate can weigh us down tremendously. Hate is the one thing that can make a person lose their life. It gives way for a hindrance of forgiveness. It is only when you understand your enemy’s to the point of defeat that you can love them in ways God can only
love.
Now, I believe choosing forgiveness is one of the most difficult things God asks us to do, especially if we believe that whoever hurt us is in the wrong and doesn't deserve to be forgiven.
But God instructs us to practice forgiveness. And when we choose to follow the path of forgiveness, we will experience the peace and joy that come through obeying God's Word.
The Gospel of Luke tells us what we should do when people hurt us: “But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.”1 Does God know what he is saying? Is he actually telling us to love the people who hate us and pray from them? God is asking us to pray for the people that persecute us. Before I took hold of my life I would always pray in vain. I would make superficial prayers such as "Oh, Lord, be with them" or “Oh Lord even though they are terrible people and I don’t like them, make them happy.” …show more content…
These prayers were said, but they were never meant from the heart. I would just say them so make myself feel better.
Although it is really hard to do, especially in that moment, but as Christians we should be willing to do it in obedience to God and say, "Lord, I pray that even though these people have persecuted me, and hated me, and humiliated me, I'll still pray in faith, because you’re telling me to bless them with Your presence." Luke goes further and tells us: “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.”2
There are a lot of things that we as Christians can do to help us follow the gift of forgiveness. Now, let's get practical about how to do this. If we have a coworker who gets the promotion that we've been believing God give us, the minute we start to feel jealousy and envy, we need to go buy them a gift. Yes, that’s right! I said it, buy them a gift. It works. When we do it, it breaks the power of the devil because St. Paul says that “we overcome evil with good.”3 It's absolutely true too. I have learned this principle and it has changed my life in so many ways. God has given me the ability to love the coworker that took the position I wanted, and he has shown me the path that he wants me to take with him
One day after mass, I went to go eat with some friends who needed to tell me about a person who was spreading rumors about me. When they told me this, at first I got mad and just wanted to tell him things that could deduct points from me getting into heaven, and in a way my imagination got the better of me. My mind was telling me to do things that my spirit was trying to get me to refrain from doing. I chose to take it to the person that I hurt every time I do anything wrong. Jesus. He gave me the strength to persevere. But in bed that night, the Holy Spirit said to me, "You're not going to do what you want to do." He said, "No, you're going to do what you teach. You're going to go buy him a present, and you're going to tell him how much you appreciate the services that he's given all these years." Needless to say, I resisted at first. It took me about a week to get myself to do this, but eventually I relented and bought him a gift.
There have been many times that I chose to listen to myself rather than God. For instance, my brother was not allowed to watch movies for a period of time, and because I knew he had a laptop and was continuing to watch movies online. I took it upon myself to get the laptop and block all the movie sites. What that the way to go about it? Was that what God wanted for me? Is that how that situation should have been handled? It wasn’t until I told one of my family members and at that moment they asked me “Was that really necessary?” I thought to myself… “I myself wasn’t perfect; I had flaws just as worse as he did. Instead I chose to make his known.” All humans are sinful beings. We aren’t perfect. Even with that, Jesus is able to forgive all our sins, all our debts, all our transgressions. Why can’t we? The idea of putting your forgiveness in another person’s hand is undoubtedly difficult. Yet with Jesus, it can become undoubtedly easy.
The way to perfection is through the Cross. It is living as Jesus did. It is kicking out the devil and making way for Him, The Great I Am, the King of Kings, the Prince of Peace. He is the only one that can give us the strength we need to love our enemy’s. He is the only one who can help us separate the sin from the sinner. We hate the sin but love the sinner.
Forgiveness in its most powerful state is in the great sacrament of confession. There is no greater love experienced then that of God in confession. The grace God gives us in that moment, exceeds all space and time. The faith that we seek, and the faith that we know has the power to move mountains, the ability to convert a person’s heart, and most importantly it has the will to convert yours. Forgiveness is the key to living a good Christian life. Without it, we fail to truly know who God is.
At this moment I want you to think of all the times you have hurt someone. Think about how it could or did affect that person. Think about how that one action could have changed that person as a whole. If you could go back in time and change one hurtful thing what would it be?
Since time travel has not been put out onto the market yet, are there times you wish you could go back and undo what you did? If you said yes, then realize you are not perfect. You make mistakes just as I do. As a Christian we need to be able to not only forgive those who hurt us, but we need to be able to forgive ourselves. When I was in Junior High and High school, I was a horrible person. I chose to make fun of people, take behind peoples back, and lie to get my ways. And it wasn’t until I started truly seeking God through mass and through personal prayer that I saw the person I was, and the person God wanted me to be. I had so much guilt for the people I hurt. I was too caught up with the things that people did to me, that I didn’t realize the log that was stuck in my own eye. I had to learn that there are two steps in forgiveness. Step 1: Forgive others, Step 2: Forgive yourself. God knows we are not perfect. He knows that we will fall. It is not that that he is concerned about. It is how we chose to pick ourselves up.
Is a part of you longing for the forgiveness not only from God, but from yourself? Do you love yourself the way God loves you? There are many ways to forgive yourselves, and many steps that you can do to get you to that point. For instance, you can write a letter to the person you hurt. Explaining why you are sorry and that you are seeking forgiveness. You can choose to send it or not. Either way writing it down on paper is very therapeutic and can turn the guilt you hold onto into love. (Love covers a multitude of sin scripture in here.)
What I remember most about the situation is that as soon as I started taking action to do something good for them, the whole situation just got so funny to me. I found myself laughing at the situation as a whole. Because what I didn’t realize before was that, although I was hurt and humiliated, I didn’t see that the person spreading rumors about me might be hurt and humiliated as well. What if he was hurt and needed to vent, and just didn’t know how to do it in a Christian manner? In some way or another, we have all hut at least one person. Jesus. It is because of our sins that he chose death over life. He chose good over bad. And yet we still fall, but God still loves us. It is through knowing the story of Jesus that we can better attain self- control over our thoughts, over our actions, and over our life. Jesus can make people change. He made me change in ways I never saw coming. He helped me see that in order to continue on the path he has given me, I need to be able to forgive those who persecute me love your enemy’s and forgive yourself.
When we can look at people who've hurt us with compassion and pray what Jesus prayed "…Father, forgive them for they know not what they do" there's a party that goes on inside of us. I think most of the time people don't even realize what they are doing. That man who was talking about me had no idea what he was doing and the position that he was putting himself in. Yet he did it! He chose to go into the unknown and live among humans, so that eternal salvation can be fulfilled.
Have you been put in a position that has made you feel hurt? Humiliated? Angry? When someone does this to you, what is usually your response? Are the actions you make from God himself, or from you? Are the actions you make hurtful to you spiritual journey with God? All these questions are great to ask yourself when you find yourself in times of trouble. Giving your life to Jesus is not easy if you intend to do it yourself…But in the presence of our God and Savior anything is possible, including loving those who hate us.
That is the very motive why praying for those who persecute you and say, "God forgive them." In truth, what does God say will happen to us when we obey Him?
Luke says "…and then your recompense (your reward) will be great (rich, strong, intense, and abundant), and you will be sons of the Most High…."5 God tells us that we'll receive a reward. We will get double for our trouble if we will do things His way. Just think! If we choose good over evil, light over darkness, God over the devil… when can have so much more then we can imagine. Our reward in heaven will surpass all that is on earth. It will exceed all expectations, it will give light to all darkness, and it will give us total and complete …show more content…
grace!
The bible says that love covers a multitude of sins. Do you know what that means? It means that love will have you helping those who persecuted you, those who hurt you, those who have done wrong to you. Someone might come up to us and say, "Well, I heard what this person did and what that person did to you."
When we whole-heartedly decide to pray for those and pray the prayer that blesses our enemies, making the decision that we will not talk bad about them, but instead, cover their fault and their mess, we still might not feel any different. “In the moment when I truly understand my enemy, understand him well enough to defeat him, then in that very moment I also love him.”6 This quote is from one of my all-time favorite movie.
Enders Game! Now im not writing this so that you can go and defeat all the people who hurt you… I am simply writing this because once you understand your enemy to the point of knowing the reason why they act certain ways… it is then that you can whole-heartedly love them. There comes a time in a persons life that angers and frustration builds up so much that it turns into hate. And hate can weigh us down tremendously. Hate is the one thing that can make a person lose their life. It gives way for a hindrance of forgiveness. It is only when you understand your enemy’s to the point of defeat that you can love them in ways God can only
love.
Now, I believe choosing forgiveness is one of the most difficult things God asks us to do, especially if we believe that whoever hurt us is in the wrong and doesn't deserve to be forgiven.
But God instructs us to practice forgiveness. And when we choose to follow the path of forgiveness, we will experience the peace and joy that come through obeying God's Word.