The past couple weeks I have been preaching through the book of Luke. Now this book comes from the life, and words of Jesus. I'm not sure which are more difficult to follow -the life or the words (a bit of both -for sure). I see Jesus calling us to such a radical way of living. One author calls living a new way, part of an "upside-down kingdom." One week ago, I had to preach about loving our enemies. Now, for a lot of us we don't have enemies, but we have people who really annoy us (or bug us so much we don't want to even be near them). Jesus comes along and tells people to "Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who persecute you." (Luke 6:37). Man, these verses sure challenged me to live and think a different about those people that I love to avoid (ok, yes I have those people in my life too).
Jesus continues to call us to live for His desires. Jesus calls us to live to make him famous and not ourselves. Oh, God, please help us in this radical way to live for you.
