To
be a Christian Should I be Different?
46
For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the
tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers, what more
are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 You
therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Matthew
5:46-48
Abraham
Lincoln was held in contempt by a man named Mr.
Stanton. He called Lincoln, “A
low, cunning clown,” and he nicknamed him ‘the original gorilla,’ and he said
that men were foolish to wander around Africa trying to capture a gorilla when
they could find one in Springfield, Illinois.
Lincoln never said anything to Stanton, and because Stanton was the best
man for the job, when Lincoln needed a war minister for the United States, he
chose Mr. Stanton. He appointed him over all of the soldiers of
the United States. He treated him with
love and courtesy, and the years passed.
The
night an assassin’s bullet tore out Lincoln’s life, in a little room to which
the President’s body was taken, there stood that same Mr. Stanton, looking down
into the silent face of Abraham Lincoln with all its ruggedness and
character. And speaking through his
tears, he said, “There lies the greatest ruler of men the world has ever
seen.” And because Mr. Lincoln could love
him with a forgiving love, he received and returned his adoration.
Jesus
is asking the Pharisees, when the best is said of your system, what makes it
better than any other. What do you do different than anybody else? What sets
you apart?
The
Pharisees struggles with all kinds of laws, religious ceremonies and rituals.
They were the most religious people of their time. Yet God says, “You are no
different than anybody else.”
This
is how God put it to the people of Israel soon after He had rescued them from
their Egyptian slavery and made them covenant people. He said, “I am the Lord
your God. You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt where you dwelt. And
you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan to which I’m bringing
you…..and keep my statutes and walk in them. I am the Lord you God.” Leviticus
18:3-5
The
statement begins and ends with I am your Lord. It stresses the fact that since
He is your Lord, you don’t act like anybody else acts. You don’t live according
to any standard, one that you came from or one that you are going to. Because
He was their covenant God and because they were His people, they were to be
different from anybody else.
It
was hard for the Pharisees then and its hard for us too even now. Just like the
Israelites we too weren’t to be like the rest of the world. In our personal
relationships, we are to be characterized by loving our enemies. That’ll make
us different from everybody in the world.
You
may not kill, but you get angry. You may not commit adultery but you do it in
your hearts. Jesus is asking us today what makes us different? He is telling us
today that we cannot be different we if just sprinkle a little Christian
activity. We are not going to be different if a little bit of commitment goes
over to Christ.
Loving
our enemies is a miracle. But it is this miracle that Christ wants us to do. This
Lenten season can we be characterized by loving our enemies?
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