The NIV 365-Day Devotional Reading Planનમૂનો

Countercultural Lifestyle

Scripture points to an intimate connection between compassion and forgiveness. According to Jesus, a distinctive sign of Abba’s children is the willingness to forgive our enemies: “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” (Luke 6:35). In the Lord’s Prayer we acknowledge the primary characteristic of Abba’s children when we pray, Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors” [Matthew 6:12]. Jesus presents his Abba as the model for our forgiveness: the king in Matthew 18 who forgives a fantastic sum, an unpayable debt, the God who forgives without limit (the meaning of seventy times seven).

God calls his children to a countercultural lifestyle of forgiveness in a world that demands an eye for an eye — and worse. But if loving God is the first commandment and loving our neighbor proves our love for God, and if it is easy to love those who love us, then loving our enemies must be the filial badge that identifies Abba’s children.

Taken from NIV Ragamuffin Bible