"Yes, we never touch the ocean of God's love so much as when we love our enemies. It is a joy to accept forgiveness, but it is almost a greater joy to give forgiveness." Corrie ten Boom, He Cares, He Comforts: In Sickness and In Health. Old Tappan, NJ: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1977, page … Continue reading Quote of Note #248: Loving our Enemies
Tag: kindness
Bible Note #68: Acts 9:1-19–God’s Amazing, Undeserved Grace
"The gracious acceptance of the God whom he’d persecuted, the compassionate healing of the God whose people Saul had killed, the love of God filled and restored this wretched and broken man. This is the very gospel of Christ in all its beauty and in all its power." (For the full post, click the link below.)
Pastor Note #146: “One of ours; All of yours”
“One of ours; All of yours” is the very essence of the spirit of Lamech. It is not the path to greatness. It is the path to degenerateness and degradation. “One of ours; All of yours” is the very antithesis of Jesus. And so, it is no surprise that the MAGA love of the Lamech spirit would make that movement pretty much allergic to Jesus." (For the full post, click the link below.)
Quote of Note #238: Rejecting Heartlessness & Lack of Compassion
"We deny the power of godliness when we are passionate about politics or justice but heartless and unjust to those who don't see things the way we do." J. Dodson (for complete quote, click link below)
Quote of Note #237/Prayer Note #71: Right Use of our Surplus
"Grant that all who have a surplus of this bread may know by this very fact that they are appointed as servants, as dispensers of thy grace, that they are in thy service and in the service of others." K. Barth (click link below for full quote)
Quote of Note #236: Western Civilization & the Christian Moral Vision
"Most people in today's world recognize as noble the ideas that we should love our enemies, that the strong should protect the weak, and that it is better to suffer evil than to do evil." N.T. Wright & Michael Bird (for full quote, click the link below)
Bible Note #64: Zechariah 7:9-10–A Rightly Ordered Society in God’s Eyes
"One of the primary tasks God gave to the prophets in ancient Israel was to instruct the people of Israel on how to order their society so that it reflected God’s heart and mind. These verses from the prophet Zechariah are a prime example of that." (For the full post, click the link below.)
Pastor Note #145: What Makes for the Blessed Life?
"Blessed are those who force their way to the front of the line; they will get to run things their own way." (For full post, click link below.)
Pastor Note #144: Jesus vs. Brutality & Inhumanity
"To truly follow Jesus is to follow the lamb who was slain (Rev. 5:6), not the roaring lion “seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8)."
Prayer Note #70: Love instead of Anger, Fear, Violence, & Cruelty
“Lord, I live in a world of anger, fear, violence, and cruelty. It is hard for me not to be swept away and molded by these ugly passions that swirl around me. . . ."
Gary Chorpenning's Notebooks 