It seems the older we get, the less open we are to change. As we age we find a way, a routine, that works for us, and as long as nothing, no one, or no circumstance messes that up, we’re good. Here’s the thing. While many things are similar day-to-day, nothing is ever the same. Life around us and in us is always changing. Deep down we know that. We feel it in our aching bones. Maybe that’s part of why we pine for the good ‘ole days and the way things were.
Here’s the dirty little secret. That’s past is always what was, and not what is, or what will be. No matter how great the past was, it’s not coming back. We need to know our history, remember it, and learn from it, but it’s never coming back. Unlike Jesus, that past can’t be resurrected.
Part #2 of that secret? That’s how God created the world to be. Always changing, always creating itself anew. Always changing, adapting, growing. It’s in the definition of what it means to be alive.
Case in point: I’m not the same dad today that I was to my children when they were babies or toddlers. Our relationship is alive and therefore always changing. When your cells in your body stop growing and changing, well, it means you’ve joined the Lord on the other side of death.
Here’s the beauty I find in it though. No two days are alike. It’s an adventure, a new leg of life’s journey each day. You never know what lies ahead on the next page in the story of your life.
In the Isaiah 43: 18-19, the Israelites are hoping for a return to the glory days. They wer great, then destroyed and sent into exile. Through Isaiah, the Lord explains, that our past is in the past, but also promises to be with us today in making the future. This is true hope – Not a return to the past, but God with us today and tomorrow and forever. God creates anew and God continues to love. That’s how God rolls.
Prayer: God you’ve been gracious to us in the past. Be with us today. The only thing that doesn’t change is Your love for us, and that is more than enough. Amen.
Like the verse above from Romans 12 about blessing those who persecute you, or Jesus teaching about loving not only you neighbor, but also loving your enemy (Matthew 5: 43-44), some parts of the bible, I think I understand, and they really convict me to my core.
Loving those who love you is hard enough, but for the followers of Jesus it’s not enough. We are commanded to love those who persecute us, our enemies.
It’s hard for us to understand most of us to understand that some people aren’t going to like us “just because”.
Although it doesn’t seem to matter to Paul, as the author of Romans, or to Jesus about the “why” someone doesn’t like us, or even “why” we might not like them – whatever the reason – we are called and commanded to love and bless our enemies anyway.
I guess Twain was right, it’s not the parts of the bible I can’t understand that bother me, it’s the parts that I do understand.
My challenge every day, and my challenge to you today, is to love your enemies and bless those who persecute you.
So who is The Spirit prodding you to love today? Which persecutor or enemy?
Prayer: Lord, loving is hard and makes us vulnerable, yet you call us to love not only our neighbor, but even our enemies and those who would persecute us. Give us the strength and wisdom to do it. Amen.