I’m still reading through Luke. Recently, I stopped on Luke 6:35.
But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men. – Luke 6:35
In this one verse, Jesus summarizes the preceding eight. He says to do three things:
- Love your enemies.
- Do good.
- Lend.
Love, do good things, lend to others. He says to do these three things, and to do them expecting nothing in return. Nothing. No love returned. No good returned. No payback at all. Nothing. Not even a "thank you" or a simple acknowledgement of the deed? No…nothing!
Why does He tell us to do this? He gives three reasons:
- Our reward will be great. Not in the here-and-now perhaps, but later. I think this command of Jesus serves to check our motives when we do the right thing. Do we do the right thing for the praise of men or the praise of God?
- We will be "sons of the Most High". Acting this way brings us closer to the character of God, because…
- God Himself loves His enemies, does good and lends freely…and usually gets nothing in return! Jesus’ commands always cause us to reflect the character of God…this is no exception!
When was the last time you loved someone who did not return your love? When was the last time you did something nice in secret, never telling anyone that you did it? When was the last time you loaned somebody something with no expectation that you would ever get it back or have the favor returned?
love + good + lend = nothing.
There is no doubt…the Word of God is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
