Reading your Bible for Today November 17

November 17: Luke 6:27-36

KJV Key Verse: Luke 6:35
35 But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.

Devotion:
Whilst it is true we continue to have arguments and continue to war nation against nation, Jesus reminds us we are to love our enemy. Ordinarily this would cause us to doubt things in our minds, but the more you think about it, the more you begin to realise that loving your enemy is more than just trying to make them friendly!

Think about the groups of people whom we stick together with? How often is it someone new joins in or how often is it you look for someone new to be friends with? We are creatures of habit and continue to mix with those we know rather than going out to find new friends. We continue to concern ourselves with those who we are friends with and block out so many others not knowing their needs.

Christ made sure He knew peoples' needs and He made sure He did something about it. It was not just a case of healing the infirm, but making sure that people with spiritual and emotional needs were supported as well. He made sure people knew they were doing things wrong and that they needed to get back to the truth and worship God. He made sure others knew this so they could try to act more like Him.

As He said, what good is it if we only mix with those who do not need anything. How will we every help the needy? How will we ever make friends? How will we ever convince people we are actually Christians! If we want to do any of this, then we have to make sure we are the ones who go out and show people what we can do with God's help. We need to convince people we are serious about God so that they will be encouraged!

Points to Ponder:
What did you do the last time a stranger did something for you?

How often do you do things for God without Him having to ask?