Before we begin our inspirational moment, I wanted to let you know that I have some special announcements at the end of this episode that you don’t want to miss! Alright, welcome back to another inspirational message from historical Christian romance novels. Luke 6: 27-36 – “But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you.”“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ lend to ‘sinners’ expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” Whew! That was a long section of passage, but you need to hear it all to fully understand what Jesus was saying and telling His followers to do. This Friday’s book club episode features the novella Scarlett from Kathleen Ball’s series, The Settlers. If you’ve read the series, then you know Scarlett is bitter and just plain mean to everyone. She gets a taste of being on the receiving end of her treatment of others. Thankfully she comes out for the better as she works to apply the golden rule: Do unto others as you would have done unto you. I have to pause and say how much I love God and the way He engineers our circumstances. I was working through what I wanted to write for our inspirational moment and low and behold Pastor Jim preached on the golden rule two Sundays ago confirming what God laid on my heart. Not only that but he shed some light on this passage that I think you will enjoy. Let’s dig into Luke 6:27-36! We all know the golden rule and live by it to the best of our ability, yet Jesus called us to go beyond the golden rule when He asked: “If you love those who love you what credit is it to you?”Wow! What a powerful question. He follows that question up by flushing this idea out more when he points out even ‘sinners’ love those who love them. To exemplify God’s love to others we have to go beyond the golden rule to what Pastor Jim calls the platinum rule. Love is more than giving so that you get something back. What Jesus is describing in this passage is agape love: to love without expecting anything back. I must stop and ask: Does this sound foreign or radical to you? It did to me because my natural human response is to go above and beyond for those that show love to me, but in turn restrict love and kindness to my enemies. In fact, retribution consumes my mind when I think about my enemies not love. Yet Pastor Jim pointed out that if we spent as much time praying as we do with retribution we’d turn the world upside down with Christ’s love. Let’s look at this platinum rule Jesus is calling us to live out.1. Love your enemies. Do good to those that hate you.a. This is agape love. To love without expecting anything back.2. Bless those who curse you.a. Speak well of those who curse you.3. Pray for those who mistreat you.4. Turn your cheek.a. This means to respond with gentleness.5. If they take your coat, give them your shirt.a. Don’t hang onto earthly possessions.6. Give to everyone who asks and don’t demand it back.a. When you lend someone a tool or money, don’t get bent out of shape when it doesn’t come back.Love without worrying about what you want, but what they want. Genuine Godly love exceeds the world’s standard of love. Therefore, the platinum rule is: Love without expecting anything in return. Jesus didn’t stop at the golden rule but asked us to go beyond what even ‘sinners’ do. Some may ask why should I do this? You have no idea what that person has done to me! Yes, he does. Jesus endured slander, insults, and physical beatings from His enemies, yet He still loved them enough to suffer death on a cross for them, for you, and for me. Not only does Jesus call us to shower our enemies in love, but to be merciful just as God is merciful. We earn a reward in Heaven for living out the platinum rule. God rewards our obedience with crowns in Heaven, that we get to turn around and lay down on Jesus’s feet. This is because we don’t do this for ourselves but for Jesus. When we show agape love to friend and foe, we look like Jesus and doesn’t ...
