Читать книгу Adult Christian Life - R.H. Boyd Publishing Corporation - Страница 26

King James Version	New Revised Standard Version
35 But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.	35 But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.
36 Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.	36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

In this last section is another of Jesus’ Kingdom rewards. As we have already seen, the first reward is that when we demonstrate our Kingdom training we are rewarded as being different. Here Jesus discussed a second reward.

Jesus began by giving us the mandate to love enemies, do good, and give with no strings attached. This tripartite command sums up the way we should love the unlovable. We must love them and do so by not withholding things needed, including our forgiveness, affection, and prayers (6:28–30).

However, to match this command, Jesus promised a blessing. Christ promised that when we act like we have home training even in the face of enemies and unjust treatment, we can expect a great reward! The shouting good news of this promise is that this is a great reward by Jesus’ standard.

The last reward doled out to us is the claim of being children of God. What a wonderful feeling to be loved and claimed by God as children, heirs to the Kingdom of God. Imagine God poking out His chest watching us as we love unlovable people and be merciful when it is unwarranted. Imagine Him bragging, “Check out My child!” What a reward!

Jesus told us why God will be so proud. When we behave as if we have home training in the face of adversity and mistreatment, we will be emulating our heavenly Father, who is “kind unto the unthankful and to the evil” (6:35, KJV). Children should look like their parents. As children of God, we should look like our Father. That means when we love our enemies, we look just like our Father, God! That may be the greatest miracle of all time, for us to look like Jesus!