Skip to main content

expect nothing in return

Luke 6:35 (nasb) --- But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men.

That is a powerful verse.  This past Sunday I shared a message with our church in the series 40 Days of Love  where we talked about loving people who don't love us in return.  Lots of the time these people do things to hurts us, and God still calls us to love them.  

Love at a couple of the things that Jesus says in the verse above:

LOVE YOUR ENEMIES ... not easy, but always right.  The enemy may be the person who actually you don't like and doesn't like you.  Or it could be the person that person just that you don't click with or care for.  It could even be a person you don't often think about.  Loving your enemy means that you do good things and don't do bad things.  Think about it.  How do you love someone?

DO GOOD ... LEND ... there ya go.  Pretty easy to define that one.  Yet doing good to people we have had a fight with doesn't sound right.  God calls us to do things that the world doesn't call normal.  God calls us to take a higher road.  It is the road and way marked by love.

EXPECTING NOTHING IN RETURN ... here is the strangest part of all.  Cause relationships are all the time marked by 'give and take'.  You do this and I will do that.  But God calls us to love unconditionally without any thought of return.

We are gearing up for the 9-11 Day of Service & Remembrance where we do SERVolution projects.  It is all about sharing the love of God without any strings attached.  It is about giving and not getting.  It is about lifting people no matter what.

Here's my big thought for the day: do things expecting nothing in return, and God will return all kinds of favor to you.  All that happens because we put Jesus in first place in our lives.  I like it.  Let's do it!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Catalyst ticket arrived

My ticket to the Catalyst Conference, in Atlanta Oct 8-10, just arrived. I'm excited!
10 comments
Read more

Have you heard of EDITH BURNS?

Edith Burns was a wonderful Christian who lived in San Antonio, Texas . She was the patient of a doctor by the name of Will Phillips. Dr. Phillips was a gentle doctor who saw patients as people. His favorite patient was Edith Burns.  One morning he went to his office with a heavy heart and it was because of Edith Burns.  When he walked into that waiting room, there sat Edith with her big black Bible in her lap earnestly talking to a young mother sitting beside her.  Edith Burns had a habit of introducing herself in this way: "Hello, my name is Edith Burns.  Do you believe in Easter?" Then she would explain the meaning of Easter, and many times people would be saved.  Dr. Phillips walked into that office and there he saw the head nurse, Beverly. Beverly had first met Edith when she was taking her blood pressure. Edith began by saying,"My name is Edith Burns. Do you believe in Easter?"  Beverly said, "Why yes I do."  Edith said, "Well, what do you ...
Post a Comment
Read more

wash feet, sharing hope

  John 13:4-5,14 NLT  So he got up from the table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his waist, 5 and poured water into a basin. Then he began to wash the disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel he had around him… 14 And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet. Jesus set the example we follow.  He served.  He valued and gave value to others.  That is why we choose to serve. For 18 years our church has shared an outreach called back2school, and for 16 of those years we have chosen to give students brand new shoes and socks as well as washing their feet.  It is one of the most important parts of this event. Washing feet is a humbling experience where both the give and the receiver learn how to share some moments that might change their lives.  Jesus said we should do this.  See the verse above.  Follow His example, do what He did, and give far more than you will ever know....
Post a Comment
Read more