Want to Be Like
God? Try This.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor
and 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. Matthew 5:43-45 (NIV)
Mahatma Gandhi studied Christianity in
England but never became a Christian because he claimed Christianity didn’t
seem to work for Christians. Although he wasn’t impressed by the Christians he
met, he was very impressed with Jesus, especially His teaching in the Sermon on
the Mount. Gandhi tried to incorporate Jesus’ wisdom into his own life. At one
point in the movie Gandhi (1982),
civil war breaks out between Pakistan and India. The war stems from divisions
between the Muslims of Pakistan and the Hindus of India. Gandhi lies on a cot
after weeks of fasting in protest to this war. A distraught Hindu man
approaches him. His only son, still a little boy, has been shot and killed in
the conflict. His heart is full of sadness, bitterness, and revenge. Gandhi can
barely speak, but tells the man how to heal his own heart. “Find a little
Muslim boy whose father has been killed. Take that boy as your son, and raise
him as a Muslim.” The distraught man walks away completely confused and
disappointed. Apparently he thought the weeks of fasting had weakened Gandhi’s
ability to reason. It made no sense to him whatsoever.
One of the most common obstacles the devil
uses to block the pathway of love is the hurt that comes when other people mistreat
us. He’ll tempt us to keep an account of those suffered wrongs. He’ll pressure
us to become bitter, resentful and unforgiving. But when he does, we must tell
him no. We must choose to drop our offenses, forgive everyone who has harmed us
and let bitterness go.
If you’ve suffered serious abuse, you may
think that’s impossible to do. But it’s not. The power to forgive is an awesome
power. God has it and He has given it to you! His power within you will enable
you to do it.
When you do, no matter how terrible the
pain of those experiences may have been, you’ll find the love of God is more powerful.
And as you begin to walk in love and forgiveness, giving up the resentment
you’ve harbored against those who have hurt you, the love of God will overcome
the damage that abuse caused in your life.
It’s quite natural for us to say, “the
people who mistreated me did something very wrong. I’ve been miserable for
years because of them. Why should I just drop my resentment and let them go free?”
We should do it, first of all because
Jesus did that for us. Even before we repented and asked Him to be our Savior, Jesus
went to the cross and shed His own blood, so we wouldn’t have to pay the
penalty for our own sin. Even though we were guilty, He dropped the charges
against us so we could go free. That alone is reason enough for us to forgive
others.
But there’s another reason. You should
forgive those who have done you wrong because if you don’t, you’re the one who
is going to suffer for it—not the people who hurt you. Not able to forgive is like
drinking poison and expecting someone else to die. It really doesn’t affect the
other person at all.
On the other hand, if you forgive and let
the love of God flow into that area of your life, it will restore you—spirit,
soul and body.
If Gandhi could seek to live out the
Sermon on the Mount the way he did, how much more so can you as a believer in
Jesus Christ? When you love without limits, you are like God.
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