Quite Possibly the Hardest Thing God Requires of Us.

God's word very much follows the saying on the sign. In one passage He clearly describes the physiological impact of treating someone that knows you despise them and yet treat them like royalty. This is totally illogical to the human mind and causes them stress and discomfort. Why are you being so nice to me?!

Romans 12:20 To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” 

Jesus also reminds us of the blessings it brings upon ourselves when we practice this in our own lives. This goes far beyond other references in God's word about forgiving one another. Those passages are more for how we are to treat fellow brothers and sisters in the faith. But in these Scripture verses He clearly calls us out to love our enemies and even pray for those who go so far as to punish us for our faith in Him!

Matthew 5:44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 

While this is extremely difficult for us humans to do God asks us to trust in Him and through His limitless power that comes to us in the Holy Spirit we are equipped to fulfill this command. It is when we can achieve this that we lift from us the weight of holding resentment against someone or something. A bitterness that we carry with us each and every day that pulls us down into despair.

Maybe the greatest example of this is the parent that lost a child to a drunk driver. Can you imagine what it takes to face this person and tell them you forgive them for what they have done? That must take some time and one rock solid faith in order for that to happen. But look what that accomplishes, A crushing weight is lifted from you as your faith in the Lord is so strong that you know for certain that God will use this opportunity to do His will. Your loved one is in Heaven with Jesus for all eternity and God will use you going forward to glorify Him. The person you forgave will look upon you and say how can this person do this? What superhuman strength do they possess that can allow them to forgive me for what I have done? They are pointed to the one true source of that strength and that is God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. One God that strengthens us in three ways in order for us to overcome the evil forces at work around us. The ones that desperately want to pull us down into the darkness. The enemy may not even appear to be remorseful or even open to change their ways but the Holy Spirit will continue to work within them as what they have witnessed defies anything they can understand in our physical world.

We find rest in the knowing where we will be for all eternity and we leave all the rest in the hands of God who will past judgement on every soul without exception. So build your faith to the point where you can be this type of witness to His glory and at the same time be a positive influence on others that just might save someone else from having to go through this fire in their own life. Reach out to everyone around you with God's love through simple acts of kindness and give Jesus all the credit in the process. Let others experience a taste of what His love and gift of grace is like through your surprising & refreshing acts of kindness. It is so easy to do because who expects this sort of thing?! Sounds a lot like what forgiveness is all about. There is a totally free program that will make it so easy to get started. What to do or give, what to say, where to go to do these acts of kindness, sharing cards to give to the recipients that deliver God's message and serve also as an invite to come to your place of worship where they can learn more about the love Jesus has for them. Simply called Care-Share-Connect! All you have to do is sign up at: https://acts18.org/christian-kindness/ and the link to the program will be provided to you. No catch no requests for a donation just prayerful support that God will bless you the same as He has the thousands of others that are doing P.A.C.K. (Planned Acts of Christian Kindness) in 99 countries around the world!