The Daily Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries by Pastor Ken Klaus, Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour of Saint Louis, Missouri, United States "Loving Your Enemies" for Tuesday, January 12, 2016

The Daily Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries by Pastor Ken Klaus, Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour of Saint Louis, Missouri, United States "Loving Your Enemies" for Tuesday, January 12, 2016

(Jesus said) "Ye have heard that it hath been said, 'Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.' But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you."[Matthew 5:43-44]
Our Savior told us to "love our enemies and do good to those who persecute us." More than just saying the words, the Savior practiced what He preached. From the cross He looked at those who had put Him there and asked that their ignorant acts be forgiven.
Yes, Christians are supposed to love, but most of us must confess: forgiving isn't always easy.
Each day the newspapers carry stories about the most recent terrorist attacks, which are often done in the name of a hateful, horrible pseudo-deity. Hardly a week goes by without us hearing of the latest inhuman torture devised by ISIS and those who have sold their souls to the devil.
This is why this devotion is being written to share a most extraordinary event. The event took place last month on a bus traveling from Nairobi, Kenya. The riders knew it was a dangerous trip since last year two separate attacks on that bus route had left 64 people dead. Nobody was shocked when the vehicle, with more than 100 people aboard, was strafed by machine gun fire.
Ten militants boarded the bus and demanded the Christians identify themselves.
One believer made a run for it and was shot down. A truck driver who happened upon the scene was also murdered. Once again the terrorists demanded to know, "Where are the Christian believers?"
The Muslims on the bus replied, "If you want to kill us, then kill us. There are no Christians here."
It was a brave statement. It was also a lie.
The Muslims had hidden some Christians under the luggage and others they had clothed with Islamic garb so they would not be recognized. Disgruntled, the terrorists left, with government forces in hot pursuit.
Right now, in Europe and America, there is growing hatred toward Islam. Violence is begetting more violence and many are making unfair generalizations. You and I can understand why that would be.
It's difficult to keep turning the other cheek.
This is why this devotion asks us to remember two things: first, as Jesus commanded and demonstrated, we are to love our enemies and second, we need to remember not every member of Islam is a terrorist thirsty for the blood of infidels like you and me. We need to remember we serve a Lord of love who sent His Son to seek and save the lost, that is all the lost. It is that example which motivates our response to others.
THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, help me to love those who seem to be unlovable. Whenever and wherever possible allow my words and actions to make a witness to Jesus who loved me when I loved Him not. This I ask in His Name. Amen.

In Christ I remain His servant and yours,

Pastor Ken Klaus
Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour®
Lutheran Hour Ministries
Through the Bible in a Year
Today Read:
Job 8:1 Bildad the Shuchi spoke next:

2 “How long will you go on talking like this?

What you are saying is raging wind!

3 Does God distort judgment?

Does Shaddai pervert justice?

4 If your children sinned against him,

he left them to be victims of their own offense.

5 “If you will earnestly seek God

and plead for Shaddai’s favor,

6 if you are pure and upright;

then he will rouse himself for you

and fulfill your needs.

7 Then, although your beginnings were small,

your future will be very great indeed.

8 “Ask the older generation,

and consider what their ancestors found out;

9 for we who were born yesterday know nothing,

our days on earth are but a shadow.

10 They will teach you, they will tell you,

they will say what is in their hearts:

11 ‘Can papyrus grow except in a marsh?

Can swamp grass flourish without water?

12 While still green, before being cut down,

it dries up faster than any other plant.

13 Such are the paths of all who forget God;

the hope of a hypocrite will perish —

14 his confidence is mere gossamer,

his trust a spider’s web.

15 He can lean on his house, but it won’t stand;

he can hold on to it, but it won’t last;

16 [for its destruction will come] like the lush growth

of a plant in the sun,

its shoots may spread out all over its garden,

17 but meanwhile its roots cause the stone house

to collapse, as it seizes hold of the rocks;

18 someone who tears it away from its place

denies he has ever seen it.

19 Yes, this is the “joy” of the way [of the godless],

and out of the dust will spring up others [like him].’

20 “Look, God will not reject a blameless man;

nor will he uphold wrongdoers.

21 He will yet fill your mouth with laughter

and your lips with shouts of joy.

22 Those who hate you will be clothed with shame,

and the tent of the wicked will cease to exist.”

9:1 Then Iyov responded:

2 “Indeed, I know that this is so;

but how can a human win a case against God?

3 Whoever might want to argue with him

could not answer him one [question] in a thousand.

4 His heart is so wise, his strength so great —

who can resist him and succeed?

5 “He moves the mountains, although they don’t know it,

when he overturns them in his anger.

6 He shakes the earth from its place;

its supporting pillars tremble.

7 He commands the sun, and it fails to rise;

he shuts up the stars under his seal.

8 He alone spreads out the sky

and walks on the waves in the sea.

9 He made the Great Bear, Orion, the Pleiades

and the hidden constellations of the south.

10 He does great, unsearchable things,

wonders beyond counting.

11 He can go right by me, and I don’t see him;

he moves past without my being aware of him.

12 If he kills [people], who will ask why?

Who will say to him, ‘What are you doing?’

13 God will not withdraw his anger —

even Rahav’s supporters submit to him.

14 “How much less can I answer him

and select my arguments against him!

15 Even if I were right, I wouldn’t answer;

I could only ask for mercy from my judge.

16 If I summoned him, and he answered me,

I still can’t believe he would listen to my plea.

17 He could break me with a storm;

he could multiply my wounds for no reason,

18 to the point where I couldn’t even breathe —

with such bitterness he could fill me!

19 If it’s a matter of force, look how mighty he is;

if justice, who can summon him to court?

20 Even if I’m right, my own mouth will condemn me;

if I’m innocent, it would pronounce me guilty.

21 “I am innocent. Don’t I know myself?

But I’ve had enough of this life of mine!

22 So I say it’s all the same —

he destroys innocent and wicked alike.

23 When disaster brings sudden death,

he laughs at the plight of the innocent.

24 The earth has been given to the power of the wicked;

he covers the faces of its judges —

if it isn’t he, then who is it?

25 My days pass on more swiftly than a runner;

they flee without seeing anything good.

26 They skim by like skiffs built of reeds,

like an eagle swooping down on its prey.

27 “If I say, ‘I’ll forget my complaining,

I’ll put off my sad face and be cheerful,’

28 then I’m still afraid of all my pain,

and I know you will not hold me innocent.

29 I will be condemned,

so why waste my efforts?

30 Even if I washed myself in melted snow

and cleansed my hands with lye,

31 you would plunge me into the muddy pit,

till my own clothes would detest me.

32 “For he is not merely human like me;

there is no answer that I could give him

if we were to come together in court.

33 There is no arbitrator between us

who could lay his hand on us both.

34 If he would remove his rod from me

and not let his terrors frighten me,

35 then I would speak without fear of him;

for when I’m alone, I’m not afraid.

10:1 “I am just worn out.

“By my life [I swear],

I will never abandon my complaint;

I will speak out in my soul’s bitterness.

2 I will say to God, ‘Don’t condemn me!

Tell me why you are contending with me.

3 Do you gain some advantage from oppressing,

from spurning what your own hands made,

from shining on the schemes of the wicked?

4 Do you have eyes of flesh?

Do you see as humans see?

5 Are your days like the days of mortals?

Are your years like human years,

6 that you have to seek my guilt

and search out my sin?

7 You know that I won’t be condemned,

yet no one can rescue me from your power.

8 Your own hands shaped me, they made me;

so why do you turn and destroy me?

9 Please remember that you made me, like clay;

will you return me to dust?

10 Didn’t you pour me out like milk,

then let me thicken like cheese?

11 You clothed me with skin and flesh

you knit me together with bones and sinews.

12 You granted me life and grace;

your careful attention preserved my spirit.

13 “‘Yet you hid these things in your heart;

I know what your secret purpose was —

14 to watch until I would sin

and then not absolve me of my guilt.

15 If I am wicked, woe to me! —

but if righteous, I still don’t dare raise my head,

because I am so filled with shame,

so soaked in my misery.

16 You rise up to hunt me like a lion,

and you keep treating me in such peculiar ways.

17 You keep producing fresh witnesses against me,

your anger against me keeps growing,

your troops assail me, wave after wave.

18 “‘Why did you bring me out of the womb?

I wish I had died there where no eye could see me.

19 I would have been as if I had never existed,

I would have been carried from womb to grave.

20 Aren’t my days few? So stop!

Leave me alone, so I can cheer up a little

21 before I go to the place of no return,

to the land of darkness and death-dark gloom,

22 a land of gloom like darkness itself,

of dense darkness and utter disorder,

where even the light is dark.’”

Matthew 9:1 So he stepped into a boat, crossed the lake again and came to his own town. 2 Some people brought him a paralyzed man lying on a mattress. When Yeshua saw their trust, he said to the paralyzed man, “Courage, son! Your sins are forgiven.” 3 On seeing this, some of the Torah-teachers said among themselves, “This man is blaspheming!” 4 Yeshua, knowing what they were thinking, said, “Why are you entertaining evil thoughts in your hearts? 5 Tell me, which is easier to say — ‘Your sins are forgiven’ or ‘Get up and walk’? 6 But look! I will prove to you that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” He then said to the paralyzed man, “Get up, pick up your mattress, and go home!” 7 And the man got up and went home. 8 When the crowds saw this, they were awestruck and said a b’rakhah to God the Giver of such authority to human beings.

9 As Yeshua passed on from there he spotted a tax-collector named Mattityahu sitting in his collection booth. He said to him, “Follow me!” and he got up and followed him.

10 While Yeshua was in the house eating, many tax-collectors and sinners came and joined him and his talmidim at the meal. 11 When the P’rushim saw this, they said to his talmidim, “Why does your rabbi eat with tax-collectors and sinners?” 12 But Yeshua heard the question and answered, “The ones who need a doctor aren’t the healthy but the sick. 13 As for you, go and learn what this means: ‘I want compassion rather than animal-sacrifices.’[Matthew 9:13 Hosea 6:6] For I didn’t come to call the ‘righteous,’ but sinners!”

14 Next, Yochanan’s talmidim came to him and asked, “Why is it that we and the P’rushim fast frequently, but your talmidim don’t fast at all?” 15 Yeshua said to them, “Can wedding guests mourn while the bridegroom is still with them? But the time will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them; then they will fast. 16 No one patches an old coat with a piece of unshrunk cloth, because the patch tears away from the coat and leaves a worse hole. 17 Nor do people put new wine in old wineskins; if they do, the skins burst, the wine spills and the wineskins are ruined. No, they pour new wine into freshly prepared wineskins, and in this way both are preserved.”

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