32 “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. 34 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. 35 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 children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. 36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
Luke 6: 32–36
Another favourite passage of mine. There are 2 points from here I’ve always felt rang true for me in my Christian walk.
1) It’s always easy to love someone who loves you back. But what good does that show God? Because even non-believers can do that. That’s why God calls us to love those who are hard or even impossible to love. Why? Because God has done the same for us. And if we are created to be a reflection of Him, then we should aim to do the same
2) God doesn’t call us to live a comfortable life. We live in a imperfect world, even a non-Christian knows that, but we as Christians need to be aware of that even more. We can’t live a comfortable life because we understand that we are flawed. And it is because we are flawed that we try to fix it. Our wish to be perfect in a way shows us how imperfect we are.