If you see the donkey of someone who hates you fallen
down under its load, do not leave it there; be sure you help them with it
(Exodus 23:5).
Whether these words were spoken by
Moses or (as many biblical scholars suggest) were expansions of a later time,
they give us a picture of a nation’s developing legal interpretation.
All these laws stem from the very first: You shall have
no other gods before me (20:3). Jesus spoke that commandment like this: Love
the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your
mind and with all your strength (Mark 12:30). Together with what Jesus
termed the second most important commandment, it can be summed up like this: Love
God; love people.
Only a life filled with the love of Christ could live up to
Exodus 23:5. Don’t just shower with kindness those who can benefit you, those
who will appreciate it, those who will pay it back; love your enemies too.
These are the kinds of circumstances that pop up out of
nowhere... and then they’re gone. If we wait to get ready until we stumble
across an enemy in need, we won’t be prepared and we’ll miss our chance. Ask
God now to prepare you for occasions to come when he’ll call upon you to love
your enemies. Otherwise you’ll be kicking yourself for squandered
opportunities.
TODAY’S MEDITATION
When the chance arises to
help an enemy (and it will), will you be ready? What do you need to do to get
ready? Who have you been thinking of as an enemy whom God would have you think
of as a friend?
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