imprudent good advice

Monday through Friday, from 7 to 8 am, we have prayer here at the Second Floor. It is a continuation of the prayer times Rick started with the Pastors back in April. It has slowly grown into a time in which our ministry team members, and now group members, join together for a time in prayer, seeking God's face before all else and dedicating the day and the day's work to Him.

As I was reading through Luke and praying this morning, I came to the passage on loving your enemies:

"But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you.

"If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' lend to 'sinners,' expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

I was struck by how easy it is to graze over a passage like this and not give it any real thought. I was struck by how many times I have grazed over this passage and not given it a second thought. As I lingered in this passage this morning, I was struck by how illogical this teaching is, how very little I see christians actually following it, and how I never follow it.

I am amazed at how imprudent all of these instructions seem. If I love my enemies, what good does that do to me, except make me appear weak? If I do good to them, doesn't that make me a doormat? If I lend to them without expecting to get anything back, am I not just throwing money down the drain and not being a good steward of what God has given me? And yet, I read this, and see that Jesus is very clear in what he says. He does not mince words.

While he doesn't give a list of reasons WHY we should do all these things, he does give a reason: your reward will be great and you will be called sons of the Most High. My initial response to that is to think about when my mom used, "Because I said so," as her reason for telling me to do something--not so convincing, right? But then I remember Who is rewarding me, and Who is calling me His daughter, and it is a lot easier to swallow.

God says in Isaiah 55:

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."

Who am I to tell God what is logical and illogical? Who am I to tell God that it isn't smart to lend out money to someone who is very unlikely going to pay me back? I just plain don't have the right to do that. Part of what frees me up to follow this teaching is that I know God knows what He's doing way better than I do, so if He tells me to love my enemies and to even lend them money, that He's got a good reason for telling me to do it. I may not know what that reason is, but He's got my back, so I can go ahead and love, do good, and lend away without worry.

The more I know Jesus, the more I realize that following him is in many cases going to lead me down an illogical path, save for the one fact that I am following the God of the universe, which, given that fact, is the only logical thing to do.