Luke 6:31-35

"And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.
For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them.
And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same.
And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again.
But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil."
Luke 6:31-35


This one is still challenging, no matter how many times we hear it. It's so easy to get into a mindset where we treat the people that we have to interact with a lot kindly, and everyone else is fair game for criticism or mockery. And then, people who act unkindly towards us are even harder. We so often dismiss them or mirror whatever unkindness we've felt from those sources. The idea here, though, is an amazing one... something that is worth the difficulty of overcoming our pride and our fears to actually work on this. Can you imagine how different our lives would be if everyone responded positively to us, no matter whether we were negative or not? I think that would change us significantly, and make our lives markedly better. And doing that for other people can make that same kind of miraculous change in their lives... giving them a free pass for a bad mood instead of punishing them for it... offering others that same opportunity to respond positively, even if they started out negative. Today, let's work on being more like God: treating people well, no matter how they treat us, and giving to others without expecting something in return.