The Word for Today
With Bob Gass
 | Responding Like Jesus! Pray for those who persecute you. - Matthew 5:44 NIV |
A soldier made it his practice to end each day with Bible reading and prayer. As the others gathered in the barracks and retired for the night, he'd kneel by his bunk. Some of them saw this and began to mock him. But one night the abuse went beyond words. As he bowed in prayer one soldier threw his boots and hit him in the face. The others jeered, looking for a fight, but there was no retaliation. The next morning when the boot-thrower woke up he couldn't believe what he saw. There at the foot of his bed were his boots - polished and returned. Imagine shining the boots that kick you! That calls for a new level of grace. It means deciding what your response will be, before the offence comes! Some of the guys in the barracks were 'leaders', motivated by pride and insensitivity. That's how darkness responds to light. Others were 'followers' - they weren't necessarily bad, just weak and afraid to be different.
Why did Jesus pray from the cross, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do?" Because He understood that people who have been raised a particular way, who are driven by certain forces, who wrestle with unresolved issues and fears, who are programmed by an unstimulated mindset, need God. And He saw it as an opportunity to put God on display.
This requires more than church-on-Sunday religion. It calls for a Christ-like, example-setting, love-displaying response that makes others sit up and take notice. Your 'rights' and your wounded ego are not the issue - the One you represent is!
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This message from The Word for Today came from Rhema Broadcasting Group Incorporated in association with The Vine, New Zealand. "The Word for Today"® is copyright © Bob Gass Ministries.
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