Wednesday, November 21, 2012

I Love Mankind


In the comic Peanuts Linus once explained, “I love mankind; it’s the people I can’t stand.”  Somerset Maugham said it this way “I’ve always been interested in people, but I’ve never liked them.”

Maybe you can identify with those sentiments. People can be rude, selfish, foolish, trying and vicious. Some might even fall into the “enemies” category. When people mistreat or take advantage of us, it is just human nature to feel resentment, anger and even hatred.

The religious teachers of Jesus’ day taught you were to hate your enemies [Roman occupation]. Jesus comes with a radical new teaching, “Love you enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you and pray for those who spitefully use you…”

Our generation has a difficult time understanding this teaching because we look at love as an emotion. When Jesus gave the command to love our enemies He was not talking about our emotions but our actions. You cannot command your emotions to feel a certain way. “Bless those…do good…pray for those…” are all words of action. So, it does not matter how you feel about someone, to love is to do what is in the best interest of that person.

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