Love Your Enemies

A Word of Truth #116  

Do you love Sadaam Hussein?

Do you love the person who hates you?

Jesus says: “Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you” (Matthew 5:44). Jesus’ command is not that we manufacture an affectionate friendship with our enemies, but rather that we love our enemies with a purposeful love that seeks what is best for them.

Loving your enemies is praying that they will see their sin, repent, and turn to Christ. Loving your enemies is forgiving them rather than harboring a desire for revenge (cf. Ephesians 4:32).

Following Jesus’ Word will not create a new friendship between you and Sadaam, and it may not resolve everything between you and your neighbor. It does mean that there is a purposeful love for you to nurture in your heart through the use of God’s Word, and it means that there is much for which you can pray concerning your enemies.

Living Together Outside of Marriage is Sinful

A Word of Truth #117  

“But everyone is doing it!” That argument has no doubt been around as long as this world and sin has existed!

God created marriage as a life-long union between one man and one woman—a union He promises to bless, as men and women seek to love and serve Him within marriage. God’s institution of marriage, however, is under tremendous attack today from many directions. The most serious attack, however, may well come from those who simply choose to ignore God’s commandments and live together without being married. Living together as if you were married, but outside of marriage is sinful in God’s eyes. The writer to the Hebrews warns us, “Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.” (Hebrews 13:4).

To argue that “everyone is doing it” will not satisfy God!