Devotion
Love Your Enemy?
Frances Taylor
There are times when the gospel message doesn't fit into our way of thinking, and this is one of them. How are we expected to "love our enemies?" Jesus offers us an answer when he tells us to pray for them. So often we think of love as just an emotion, something we have no control over. While it is true that we can't always control our feelings, we can control our actions, and love is a function of the will, not the heart. We are not expected to have gushy feelings for those who attack us, our country, our way of life, the people we love, but we are expected not to take action against them. If we do, are we just as wrong as they are? I have always found it ironic, that people use violence to bring about peace. IT DOESN'T WORK!
Martin Luther King, Gandhi, Jesus, did not resort to violence. Do we realize that our enemies are still God's children loved by him just as we are? God does not want us to hate, but to love. Prayer is a very powerful force. All we need to do is look at the changes brought about over the years by constant prayer. At Fatima, Mary promised that Russia would return to her and her son if we prayed. It may not have happened as quickly as those of us who can barely wait for water to boil would have liked, but it happened. Change doesn't happen overnight, but is does happen – one loving heart at a time. We can begin with our words and move on to our actions. Words of prayer and love can open the stoniest of hearts. As the song says, "Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me."
Prayer
Lord, it is not always easy to love those who have hurt us, or whose ideas we disagree with, but this is what God asks of us. Love is the only thing that can make enemies friends, help me to fill my life with friends. Amen.
Devotion
Abraham is Father of All
Frances Taylor
There are questions in every age about the importance of the Old Testament for Christians. Abraham is considered to be the Father of Faith for Jews, Christians and Muslims. We forget that it was Abraham who believed in the doctrine of only one God. It is through him and his descendants that this tradition comes down to us. Another fact that we can overlook is that Jesus was Jewish. He was born a Jew, lived as a Jew, died, rose and ascended into heaven as a Jew. Because we believe that he was the Messiah, the Christ, and we follow him, we are called Christian. Without the Old Testament, we wouldn't understand the promise of salvation; we wouldn't understand why it was important for Jesus to be of the family of King David. We would not understand his teaching either, because Jesus quoted from Scripture – the Old Testament – frequently. He told us that he came to fulfill the Scriptures, not to abolish them. In the same way, we can ...
