"But I say to you who hear: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you." (Luke 6:27, 28)
Jesus "did" our text from a cross-------------------------not from Heaven. "Father, forgive them," came from Jesus on a cross. The unrepentant thief heard, "Today you will be with me in Paradise"------ from a cross. This did not come from the relative security and safety of Lazarus' home. It came from, "Now it was about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. Then the sun was darkened...."
So many suffer alone in incurable defeat because they forget a very central reality of The Faith. Everything Jesus taught and commanded He did, not in His power as God, but, "He was crucified in weakness...." Jesus did not save us from Heaven. As the hymn writer said, He came "out of the ivory palaces into a world of woe." Jesus saved us from the grit of earth, as a part of sinful humanity, on a Roman cross, with the same pain, suffering, and rejection as the thieves--------------- "yet without sin." The Bible says that Jesus "made Himself of no reputation," or, "stripped Himself," or, "emptied Himself." The Greek phrase means that Jesus "abased, neutralized, made" Himself "of none affect," even though He is, "being in very nature God." When Jesus "came" to earth, He came, "emptied."
The Life of Jesus on the earth in human flesh reveals a challenging, yet liberating reality. What Jesus did from the cross, His loving, His blessing, praying for His enemies, you and I can do today, in any situation, no matter how difficult. We can do this. Jesus fulfilled our text, as Hebrews says, "in the days of His flesh." And now, because we are in Him and He in us, we can do likewise. 1 John 4:17 says, "Love has been perfected in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as he is, so are we in this world."
Father, in Jesus' Name, help me to live an "emptied" life, so that I may be full of You. Amen.
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Hebrews 12:2
Hebrews 12:2
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