Faith

---

“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…Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven” Luke 6:35-37.

Most likely, if we have enjoyed the benefits of great friendships we have experienced the pain of one ending. A broken friendship can be one of the most devastating experiences to go through. Most of the time friendships are built upon an earthly need…a need to comfort or to be comforted…a need to validate or to be validated…a need to receive or a need to give. That is why so many friendships become derailed…we all come to the table with our own agenda and expectations…friendships outside of the love of Christ are rarely free.

When we love others through acceptance of who they are instead of whom we wish them to be we will experience our great rewards within that relationship. When we see others through the eyes of unmet expectations and broken promises it is tough to move beyond. ‘Our world revolves around right and fair and correct. We protest to gain what we’re entitled to. What’s owed to us. What justice must be served. Jesus’ kind of love is applied to this world in radically different ways. He calls us to see our broken friendship by extending the same grace Christ has extended to you, the same mercy, the same forgiveness, and the same compassion. It means laying down our desire to condemn and to demand satisfaction, just as He laid down those things.’ Stronger, p. 151.

God calls us to love as His Son loved…being His children of Luke 6:35-37…this will bring our greatest reward. We can resemble the kind of radical love that Christ showed or we can resemble the flesh. ‘Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit.’ Matthew 5:33.

---

PLEASE ENCOURAGE AUTHOR BELOW LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE