But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.
Luke 6:35 KJV
When you read about a BUT, you know that what follows is always the opposite of the usual or the normal. There is nothing God demands of those who follow him that is usual or normal. In fact, the call to salvation itself is not normal, because it goes against the sense of independence that the natural man craves and thrives on. Salvation demands that I give control to another, who is Jesus, and that his life becomes my life. What I do now must reflect my new ownership, and what men see must also align with my new ownership. If it is not obvious who I am, maybe I need to go check again who I follow.
My new ownership will generate enemies; no matter how hard I try, not everyone will love me, because my new life will challenge the usual and the normal. My new ownership calls for new direction and pursuits, and the world will kick back because I am challenging the status quo. Yet, God demands from me that I do not meet fire with fire, but that I love my enemies. That is a tall order for someone with an axe to grind or scores to settle. For me, it cannot be, as I now answer to a different master, and play by different rules.
I am to do good, not because the other person did good to me, but because each person gives what s/he has. No matter how hard you cultivate an orange tree, it will never give you bananas. No matter how much pressure you apply to a child of God, he should not produce fruit that looks like the works of the flesh. Yes, sometimes, compromise will happen, but it is not normal. If I am truly a child of God, the fruit of my life must align with the seed of God in me. That is the standard, and the fact that we struggle to live up to it does not mean that God will lower the standard for anyone. It is by daily dependence on God that I am able to sustain the life of God in me.
Where I do have, God expects me to lend, but with a funny caveat: hope for nothing in return. It is total surrender; where I know that nothing I hold is actually mine, but is given to me in trust and that I will use it to bless another person. If I give, I do so with a heart that appreciates what it has been given, and is ready to share the same heart with other people. This is the same God who loved me even when I did not care who he was, and he stretched out his hand to me all the way, until I came. His love will not let go until physical death or rapture defines my eternal reality. His rain falls on all, so also his sun shines on all. He does not discriminate; he seeks the good of all that he has created, and the lives of all who align with him must reflect this. Can this be said of me? Am I a child of God, and does my life truly reflect this ownership status? Does God reckon with me as his own? Eternity is too long a time not to be sure about where I stand with God. His time of favour is here.
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