Forever Home in the Eternal Family of God

A Deeper Teaching from Kenton Cheek

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighborand hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”—Matthew 5:43-48

“love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you”  If we are to love and pray for enemies and persecutors, how much more should we love and pray for those who simply disagree with us?  This is not optional.  Jesus is saying this is part of living for Him. 

“that you may be children of your Father in heaven.”  If we love our enemies and pray for those that do wrong to us, we become more like our Father.  If we are not able to do this, it either shows us that we are not His children in the first place or this is a part of our hearts and minds that need to be surrendered to Him and sanctified. 

Sun and rain on the evil and good, righteous and unrighteous.  Outward success according to worldly standards is not always an indication of God’s blessing.  God wants to bless His children as they obey Him, but those blessings are deeply spiritual, He will always provide for our basic material needs, and sometimes He blesses us above and beyond in temporal ways. A person could be outwardly successful but inwardly, spiritually impoverished. The way of love leads to great spiritual prosperity.

“If you love those who love you, what reward will you get?”  It’s easy to get along with those who agree with you politically or theologically, it is more challenging to love those who disagree with you, sometimes vehemently, even directly opposed to you and your way of thinking. 

“Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”  Sometimes we see principles or precepts in God’s Word (principle: a fundamental truth or proposition that serves as the foundation for a system of belief or behavior or for a chain of reasoning; precept: a general rule intended to regulate behavior or thought.) and for one reason or another we see obedience as optional.  Love is not optional with the Lord, in fact it is what the entire Law hangs on and is the Law of Christ Himself who is the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets.  Perfection is an event, a process and a future goal.  When we are born again, the very core of our being is made right with God, through spiritual growth and sanctification, that perfection works its way into other areas of our lives, and when we meet Jesus face to face we will be completely perfect and holy.  Learning to love those who disagree with us is part of this process of spiritual growth and sanctification.

“One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind.” –Romans 14:5

Notice the Spirit did not say through the Apostle Paul to be sure that everyone around you thinks like you in disputable matters.  This is not a goal we need to be concerned about.  We need to be of one heart and one mind in essentials, live and let live in non essentials and in everything treat each other with love and respect.

We need to do the work in research and study it takes to be fully convinced in our own mind and then be intentional about loving and praying for those who disagree.