"Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord"

Today's readings: Deuteronomy 26: 16-19; Psalm 119:1-2,4-5,7-8; Matthew 5:43-48

Moses tells us that God wants to be our God, and us to be his people. He promises that he will protect us, and our part of the commitment is that we need to follow his commands. Later, Jesus tells us that we must love our enemies, and pray for those who persecute us.

I'm not saying that I am the greatest at this, but I do believe I have been blessed to have multiple examples of how to love others. Growing up in a big family, you had to learn how to care and love each other. It was difficult when you felt like everything was against you.  But, my family focused on the letting go and forgiving so that we could enjoy each other again. Also, my parents are great examples if loving everyone. My dad worked for UPS and every place he delivered called him the 'ups' man because they never saw him grumpy and everyone wanted to talk to him.  I remember visiting one of the areas he worked on some afternoons.  It was a bad part of the city.  But, when he talked about the people that he saw every day he talked as if they brought joy to his life.  They may not have been societies greatest people (and we had to have our doors locked and windows up when there), but every one of them enjoyed the company of my dad because he treated them like people and saw their dignity. Also, my siblings and I swam, and it didn't matter who we were swimming against, people on both teams always had so many positive things to say about my parents. We were taught and shown to be people who truly enjoyed life and spread that joy to everyone. Because of this great example, one of the most common descriptions of my siblings is that they are always so happy and caring. 

 

Another example I've had for about 17 years.  It is my oldest nephew. If there is a person who will challenge you to love your enemies, it is my nephew. Even as a little kid, if he ever heard any of us say anything negative about someone he would immediately tell us that is not how to behave. We want people to be nice to us, and so we NEED to be nice to everyone. He would tell us that we always have to see the good in the other person and that is what we should focus on instead of what hurts us. There were so many times that we wanted to tell him that a 4 year old can’t tell us what to do, but that is because we knew he was right and we didn’t want to change our harden hearts.

 

As I have gotten older, I have become so grateful for my family and our 'unspoken' family commitment to try to find the joy in every moment and every person. It has helped me in being patient at my job, with doctors, at hospitals, on the road and at stores (to name a few).  Although there are times that I have not done so well in loving people I don’t want to, my discipline and foundation gives me the ability to fight that urge and see how people play a positive role in my life.

I share that with you in hopes that it will bring a reflection of your life to mind. Who has shown you how to love? How can you be an example so that people learn a little about what Christ was calling us to?

 

It is interesting because right after he tells us to love our enemies, he says that the sun will rise on the good and bad, and rain will fall on both also. This is a warning. There will be good times and bad times in everyone's lives.  That is a reality. If we follow his commands he will protect us through the rough times in our life. Sometimes this is hard to remember, but we MUST trust in his protection. We have to understand this truth in our heart.  If we cannot do that, then when the rain falls, we are more likely to become upset with God and begin to walk away.  If we trust in this protection and truly believe it…not only do we increase our friendship with God, but we allow the ‘rain’ to become ‘sunshine’ for ourselves and others!!!  This means that if we trust in God’s protection and offer our sufferings to Christ then he will not only bring us through it, but will transform that suffering into saving grace for us and countless others! 

 

Then he ends with telling us that it is going to be hard to be a Christian. Everyone can be nice to people they like, and say hi to their family...but it takes great character and humility to approach and help those that are the hardest to care for. This is where we need to focus our attention. This is one of the biggest and most basic descriptions of a Christian. This is our task. 

 

We are to show people what love is. Love is willing the good for the other.  Love is a gift of self.  Yes, it is hard to do those things to someone who has done wrong but it is not impossible.  Christians should desire that all people believe that Christ loves us unconditionally, and wants only life for every person.  Well, we are the hands and feet of Christ.  We are to be Christ to the world.  If we are not loving and giving to every person, then we are not portraying Christ correctly.  We are being false to our calling and name.  And so he reminds us that we have to push through.  We are not to be like the pagans and tax collectors (who focus on increasing their own wants) but we are to go beyond that and focus on how we can give our life for others.

 

‘Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect’!  This can only be done with the grace of God.  Going back to what Moses said that we are to be God’s people and he will be our God.  He wants to give us himself so that we can become perfect.

 

Today, let us strive to allow the grace of God to enter our hearts, to live it out in the way we treat ourselves and others, and to let the protection of God in the rough moments become moments of sunshine for the world to see!