A few weeks ago, Ted Smith challenged us to see others as God does, reminding us that we are \u201cMade in the Image of God\u201d (not just the people we like) and the next week our guest speaker challenged us to \u201cLove Thy Neighbor.\u201d This week two nearly identical scripture passages have popped up in my bible reading:<\/p>\n
Luke 6: 27-36<\/strong><\/em> Matthew 5:43-48<\/strong><\/em> While I\u2019m just as guilty as anyone else of laughing at a joke at someone else\u2019s expense (politics alone\u00a0give us so much to work with), I\u2019m finding it more distasteful and just plain tiring lately.\u00a0So, I think God might be getting through to me in regard to how I see people, but I still have work to do.<\/p>\n How about you?<\/p>\n JL<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A few weeks ago, Ted Smith challenged us to see others as God does, reminding us that we are \u201cMade in the Image of God\u201d (not just the people we like) and the next week our guest speaker challenged us to \u201cLove Thy Neighbor.\u201d This week two nearly identical scripture passages have popped up in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":7309,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[59,113,294],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-church-news","category-newsletters","category-thoughtful-thursday"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefount.church\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7673","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefount.church\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefount.church\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefount.church\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefount.church\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7673"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thefount.church\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7673\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7674,"href":"https:\/\/thefount.church\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7673\/revisions\/7674"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefount.church\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefount.church\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefount.church\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefount.church\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n27This is what I say to all who will listen to me:
\nLove your enemies and be good to everyone who hates you.\u00a028Ask God to bless anyone who curses you and pray for everyone who is cruel to you.\u00a029If someone slaps you on one cheek, don’t stop that person from slapping you on the other cheek. If someone wants to take your coat, don’t try to keep back your shirt.\u00a030Give to everyone who asks and don’t ask people to return what they have taken from you.\u00a031\u00a0Treat others just as you want to be treated.
\n32If you love only someone who loves you, will God praise you for that? Even sinners love people who love them.\u00a033If you are kind only to someone who is kind to you, will God be pleased with you for that? Even sinners are kind to people who are kind to them.\u00a034If you lend money only to someone you think will pay you back, will God be pleased with you for that? Even sinners lend to sinners because they think they will get it all back.
\n35 But love your enemies and be good to them. Lend without expecting to be paid back. Then you will get a great reward, and you will be the true children of God in heaven. He is good even to people who are unthankful and cruel.\u00a036Have pity on others, just as your Father has pity on you.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cYou have heard the law that says, \u2018Love your neighbor\u2019 and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.<\/p>\n