HIGHER LEVEL LIVING
MATTHEW 5:43-48 NKJV
43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? 48 Therefore, you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.
Okay, I tricked you with the title. When we typically think of higher-level living, we think of doing better materially, relationally, and spiritually. Taking a wild guess here, I doubt our verses for today have made many refrigerators. You may not see these verses on those pretty framed pictures in Christian bookstores. But this is no trick. This is higher level living!
Jesus was speaking to people who were familiar with what they had been taught. This is why Jesus said to them, "But I say to you." Jesus was correcting their thinking.
Instead of hating and returning evil for evil, Jesus gave us a higher way. Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who use you and persecute you.
And there was a reason behind these counterintuitive actions. That we may reflect our Father in heaven. He is good to all.
And there is another reason. Jesus said if we are only good to those who are good to us, what reward will we have? So evidently, there are rewards for acting like children of our Heavenly Father. Jesus points out that even the tax collectors, the most hated of all Jewish groups, were good to those who were good to them. The tax collectors did not live on a higher level. They responded with actions that mirrored how they were treated.
Jesus charges us to be perfect just as our Heavenly Father is perfect. The word perfect in our context is full, lacking in nothing. Another word is mature. By responding to people in a higher way, we display a godly maturity.
APPLICATION:
Still with me? I am aware of how challenging these verses appear. Our flesh wants to do just the opposite of what Jesus has instructed us to do. Hate our enemies, curse those cursing us, exact revenge on those who do us wrong. And pray for a lice infestation to those who use and persecute us.
But anyone can do this. Even Republicans and Democrats do the same. I just wanted to see if you were still listening, but you get my point. We identify as children of God as lights in a dark world. That means more than just bumper sticker stuff. Living as Jesus instructs us is Special Ops Christianity, the Navy Seals of God's Kingdom, God's Green Berets. We are smiling but seriously, living this higher way is a circuitous way to living better materially, relationally, and spiritually.
PRAYER:
Lord help me with these words of Yours. I want to be pleasing to You above all else. Strengthen me to live on this higher level.