Luke 6:27-49; Genesis 6; Genesis 7; Psalm 3

“But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil. Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful.” (Luke 6: 35-36 NKJV)

There’s a natural “quid pro quo” to life. If you do something for me, I’ll do something for you. How often do we make deals where we ask the other person to do something for us while we do something for them in return? This is the basis for contract law. Whether you give someone cash to do something for you need them to do or you make an even trade, that’s how things are done. Unless you’re in a Christian economy. Jesus said that it was no big deal if you lent money to someone expecting to get it back, or if you loved someone because they’d love you back. When we expect “quid pro quo,” or “something for something,” we’re not showing remarkable faith nor are we showing trust in God. Jesus taught us that if we want to do things in God’s Kingdom way, we’ll accept abuse and return love; we’ll lend and not expect to be paid back, we’ll do good to the people who don’t do good to us.

What happened today? Was every dealing you had a contractual transaction? or did you find a way to do good to someone without expecting anything in return? Did you work to get revenge on those who have abused you or did you find a way to show love to those who hated you? The call to follow Jesus is a call to an extraordinary life. Commit to making tomorrow a day of extraordinary living, not being pulled down to the level of the ordinary give and take of life; instead, living as a child of God who shows His love in a hostile world.

Lord, it would be nice if everyone loved like You do and lived like You wanted them to. They don’t. Sometimes the actions of those who don’t follow You annoy me. Sometimes those actions hurt. Give me the strength to show Your love and grace to others, expecting nothing in return. Help me to love people like You do.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.