And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. – Genesis 12:2-3
Our lives exist within a network of relationships. Connections may be close and strong, with, we
might say, lots of bandwidth, or they may be distant and very narrow. As Christians we know we are called to love
others and care about them. We will
stand at the Judgment Seat of Christ and answer as to how well we fulfilled our
calling. The Christian CEO will answer
as to how faithfully he did his job, how he handled what had been entrusted to
him, but also about how he treated the people carrying the basura boxes. It works both
ways. Never doubt that there are people
who are going to bring blessings or curses into their lives based on how they
treat you.
Thus we turn the other cheek; we are careful about how we
respond to aggression and oppression; we do not take revenge when we are
wronged. There is a good chance that you
and I – even as we are being tested – are a test for someone else, for the
police officer enamored of his own authority, for the politicians who think
they rule over us, for the petty, tyrannical supervisors who like to yank us
around on the job. If someone pushes me or threatens me, and I
rise up and beat him down, all I’ve done is teach him, perhaps, not to judge a
hillbilly by his overalls. What if I let
him “get away with it”? Commonsense
would say that I have reinforced his aggression, that he will be more likely to
push me next time. Most of the time,
that is exactly what happens, and here is the point where it is critical to
know that God loves us.
I readily confess that I stumble over verses telling me
about the love of God. Of course God
loves me if I do right. That’s the way I read it. To my natural mind it seems like arrogance to
think that I am of any particular value or interest or concern to the Creator
of the universe. He loves the
world. He loves everybody. I fall into that general category.
I had good parents who loved me. I was not an especially good child but I
tried to be obedient because I loved Mom and Dad and didn’t want to cause them
any trouble, cost them extra, or create additional work for them. Sometimes I did, and it was always like a
cold knife through my heart to see them cleaning up my mess. I never in my life felt that they owed
me. I was always in their debt. They never told me that or did anything that
I can remember to give me that impression.
As far as I know, I was born with that attitude. It seems to be inherent, and I carry the same
attitude toward God.
But the Lord says something very different. He cares about each of us individually. We have the favor of our heavenly
Father. The people in our lives who
support, encourage and help us will share in that favor. None of us can make on our
own. There is no need to feel as though
we didn’t earn all the blessings, help, and opportunities we have received. No one does. Accept it graciously and gratefully. Thank God for it, and know that those who
have been good to you will be themselves recipients of grace, mercy, love and
joy that they “earned” only by treating you well.
Conversely, those who choose to attack us, dishonor us,
manipulate, and curse us will not partake of God’s favor. The worse people treat you when you are
trying to follow Christ and do right, the more the Lord will bless you. Meanwhile, we may trust that He knows how to
deal with those who make themselves our enemies.
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