More Than Others

If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. … 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 is kind to the ungrateful and the selfish. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.

Luke 6:32-36

These words of our Lord haunt me. What more are you doing than others? Why don't you react differently from others? Someone has said that a Christian is judged not so much by his actions but by his reactions. It isn't so much what he plans to do, but what he does instinctively on the spur of the moment, in the press of a situation. This is what reveals what is really in the Christian's life.

It's time we took seriously our Lord's words here. He clearly states that a Christian is to be different, and his reactions are expected to be different from others. He points out various practical situations. If someone is nice to you, it's no problem to be nice to them. Or if people are pleasant to you, it's no credit to you to be pleasant back to them. What are you doing more than others? But as He points out, it's when the reverse is true; when they are unpleasant, what do you do back? When they are nasty and insolent to you, how do you respond? When you lend them money and they don't repay, then what? When you invite someone over and instead of inviting you back, you hear they have told some false rumor about you behind your back? What do you do more than others is our Lord's question.

Most Christians think of witnessing in terms of talking to someone about the Lord. The reason we don't have an effective witness is often because we have many times ruined it in terms of being, of reacting. The New Testament says little about talking to someone about the Lord as Christian witness, but it says a great deal about our reactions as Christian witness. The attitude we show in times of pressure, irritation, and temptation to lose our temper or be impatient. This is what real Christian witness is. This is what paves the way for witness in the words that follow. It's when people see the unexpected Christian attitude that the door opens for witness.

Lord, lay hold upon my heart now, that I may rise up and stand in the strength you have given me, and stop asking you for power when you have given me power. Help me to start to exercise that which you have given me.