MacDonald: too much to expect

Tuesday, April 11, 2023
    Commemoration of George Augustus Selwyn, first Bishop of New Zealand, 1878
Meditation:
    [The LORD:] “If you come across your enemy’s ox or donkey wandering off, be sure to take it back to him. If you see the donkey of someone who hates you fallen down under its load, do not leave it there; be sure you help him with it.”
    —Exodus 23:4-5 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Is not this at length too much to expect? Will a man ever love his enemies? He may come to do good to them that hate him; but when will he pray for them that despitefully use him and persecute him? When? When he is the child of his Father in heaven. Then shall he love his neighbour as himself, even if that neighbour be his enemy. In the passage in Leviticus ... quoted by our Lord and his apostles, we find the neighbour and the enemy are one.
    ... George MacDonald (1824-1905), “Love Thine Enemy”, in Unspoken Sermons [First Series], London: A. Strahan, 1867, p. 217-218 (see the book)
    See also Ex. 23:4-5; Lev. 19:18; Pr. 25:21; Matt. 5:43-48; Luke 6:27-28,35; 23:34; Rom. 12:14,20-21; 1 Pet. 3:9
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, implant Your love for my enemies within me. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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