To love and to bless

Indeed, God told us to love our neighbors (including our enemies) as ourselves. In the bible it says

27"But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. 29If 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. 30Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. 31Do to others as you would have them do to you.

32"If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' love those who love them. 33And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' do that. 34And 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. 35But 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. 36Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

Luke 6:27-36

sounds so tough and challenging hoh? that's what we ought to do.

At times of meeting or working with people that really get on your nerves, or when you are taken for granted, or when you feel mistreated or despised, the term "to love and to forgive" just seem so so hard to comprehend. haha...and so hard to put it into practical means.

i have to admit, no one is perfect in this world, in fact me myself also not perfect and i think i offend people a lot. but come to think of it, when we feel mistreated or offended or betrayed or whatsoever that cause us to feel angry, sad, indifferent, emotionless and etc the negative feelings, those are the time when our own self interests, or dignity are challenged.

so, we feel so negative because our "self" is not taken care of, it is not because of other people's interests are challenged that we feel bad. it's ourselves, so in a way, we can say that we feel bad and hard to forgive people because we are "selfish".

am i right? a lot of times, we cannot forgive and to continue to love because if we do so, we will think that people will look down on us, people will take us for granted, people will think this fella is nice to bully, and it is okay to mistreat him because he will understand, people will not have so much respect on you anymore, and etc. all of this that focus on ourselves that cause us hard to forgive and forget about other's wrong doings.

therefore, if we try to love with our own love, we just can't simply go far. that's why bible taugh us that "...love is not self seeking..." (1 Corinthians 13:5) .

So, i guess you will know what comes next, hehe....we love, because God has loved us. Jesus died for us because of His selfless love for us, for our sins and for our salvation. and because of God's power, He rose again on the third day and overcome the power of death that through Him, we can gain eternal salvation.

so, because of God's love for us and in us, we are able to love others, and to bless others because God has blessed us.

Lastly, i find this pic cute and....still cute. lol


Have a nice day! haha...i know these few days gonna be tests of faith for me and pray that i will not fail. :) lol...

4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7