The Path to Greatness...

“But I say to you who hear: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you. 29 To him who strikes you on the one cheek, offer the other also. And from him who takes away your cloak, do not withhold your tunic either. 30 Give to everyone who asks of you. And from him who takes away your goods do not ask them back. 31 And just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise.—Luke 6:27-31

I almost invariably pause at the passages in Scripture that tell me to love my enemies and to do good to those who hate me.  How do “I” do this?  How do “I” put off these offenses and return love and good for their hatred and evil?  I come up with the same answer you probably came up with when you read the passage The ONLY way this is possible is by the Spirit of God.  But what does this look like in my life practically? 

The path to greatness in the world is through aggression, pride and putting oneself forward, but Jesus, the greatest Man that ever lived walked the path of humility, gentleness and surrender.  This is how we, who are His followers, are to walk.  

Read the following verse from 1 Peter 2 and see the pattern Christ has left behind for us to follow.  

For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps:

“Who committed no sin, Nor was deceit found in His mouth”;

who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously;

Jesus committed Himself to His Father's sovereign care in all things.  We are to do the same...we died with Him and our life is now hidden with Christ in God.  It is no longer we who live, but Christ who lives in us.  A person who has died to self has neither thought nor worry for himself.  He lives for God...He knows his life is not about him but about doing the will of His Father in Heaven.  A meek person steps aside and allows his God to work even in offenses and perhaps, especially in offenses against him.   A meek person is grateful for what his God has done and lives with a thankful servant's heart of love and compassion toward those around him. 

Beloved, we are more than conquerors through God who loves us.  There is nothing that can separate us from His love.  Like Jesus, we can set our faces like flint and follow in His steps, because He is our Rock and our Defense.... He will not allow us to be moved.  We can put off offenses against us and lean on our Beloved, depending on both His strength and protection because we know He cares for us and will guide us continually. Moses tells us in Deuteronomy 28 that when we obey God we won’t have to search for His blessings.  They will follow us and overwhelm us.  I really like the sound of that! 

I end with one of my favorite quotes about gentleness from John MacArthur...in context he is referring to the verse from Philippians 4 that tells us to let our gentleness be made known to all men.

Gentleness: This means learning to accept less than you might think you are due.  Let your gentleness ....we can replace this word with the following:  Let your contentment, forbearing spirit, sweet reasonableness, bigheartedness, good will...bending beyond what is expected to grant them good, magnanimity, charity toward the faults of others, mercy toward failures of others, not being personally offended by the faults of others..be known to all men. It is the kind of gentleness that can submit to injustice, disgrace, mistreatment, without hatred, without malice, without retaliation, without vengeance.

The best way to look at it...it is the graciousness of humility which basically says you may have mistreated me, you may have misjudged me, you may have misrepresented me, you may have not given me what I deserve or given me what I don’t deserve, you may have ruined my reputation with some, acted in hostility towards me, I may be the recipient of your inequity, injustice, and mistreatment but I humbly, graciously accept it...Christ still reaches out in love...

And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.--Revelation 12:11

"Blessed are the gentle,(meek) for they shall inherit the earth" (Matthew 5:5).

Jesus from Isaiah 53

Who has believed our report?

And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant,

And as a root out of dry ground.

He has no form or comeliness;

And when we see Him,

There is no beauty that we should desire Him.

He is despised and rejected by men,

A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.

And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;

He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.

Surely He has borne our griefs

And carried our sorrows;

Yet we esteemed Him stricken,

Smitten by God, and afflicted.

But He was wounded for our transgressions,

He was bruised for our iniquities;

The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,

And by His stripes we are healed.

All we like sheep have gone astray;

We have turned, every one, to his own way;

And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed and He was afflicted,

Yet He opened not His mouth;

He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,

And as a sheep before its shearers is silent,

So He opened not His mouth.

He was taken from prison and from judgment,

And who will declare His generation?

For He was cut off from the land of the living;

For the transgressions of My people He was stricken.

And they made His grave with the wicked—

But with the rich at His death,

Because He had done no violence,

Nor was any deceit in His mouth.

Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him;

He has put Him to grief.

When You make His soul an offering for sin,

He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days,

And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.

He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied.

By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many,

For He shall bear their iniquities.

Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great,

And He shall divide the spoil with the strong,

Because He poured out His soul unto death,

And He was numbered with the transgressors,

And He bore the sin of many,

And made intercession for the transgressors.