This Sunday’s readings: Luke 6:27-36

Reflections

The man of knowledge must be able not only to love his enemies but also to hate his friends.
~ Friedrich Nietzsche

Most people want to grow, but the price of growth is pain. … Christ never intended to cover up the dark side of life, but rather to illuminate a path through it.
~ Dan B. Allender , Author/Psychologist

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We don’t have an anger problem in America. We have a contempt problem. … If you listen to how people talk to each other today, you notice it is with pure contempt. When somebody around you treats you with contempt, you never quite forget it. So if we want to solve the problem of polarization today, we have to solve the contempt problem.
~ Arthur C Brooks, Love Your Enemies

If you have things you’re unwilling to lose, evil will have power over you. Our calling is to recognize and disempower evil’s power. We must look them in the eye and know full well, that while you want to do me harm, my heart is good towards you. I want to bless you. I will stand before you to do you good.
~ Dan Allender

What is perfection in love? Love your enemies in such a way that you would desire to make them your brothers…
~ Saint Augustine

We forget that God’s primary goal is not changing our situations or relationships so that we can be happy, but changing us through our situations and relationships so that we will be holy.
~ Paul David Tripp, Pastor/Author

She quoted Jesus and told me I needed to learn to turn the other cheek. “These things hit you,” she said. “They punched you in the face and now you have a choice. You can keep focusing on them and judging people who do them, or you can turn your cheek and focus on something new. Before you were obsessed with loving drugs, now you’re obsessed with hating them. Either way, your life is still ruled by them.
~ Michael J Heil, Public Speaker, Author of Pursued:
God’s relentless pursuit and a drug addict’s journey to finding purpose