Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever (Daniel 12:2-3).

Many will be purified, made spotless and refined, but the wicked will continue to be wicked. None of the wicked will understand, but those who are wise will understand (Daniel 12:10).

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 sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful as your Father is merciful (Luke 6:35-36).

All of these passages refer to eternity. The wise will be purified and awake to eternal life. The wicked will awake to shame and everlasting contempt. Daniel talks about how the wicked will not understand. Certainly Jesus’ teaching is hard to understand. He tells us to love our enemies. This is not an easy pill to swallow. When I think of people who have really hurt me or offended me, I want nothing to do with them. I’d rather avoid them, much less do good to them. Yet the wise will understand the purification process. They see that the heavenly Father is generous to the ungrateful and merciful to the wicked. And that we, too, who have received mercy, must also show mercy. That’s wisdom.

Of course God knows that He is asking a hard thing of us. But he makes no apologies for doing so. Instead He gave us an example of doing it Himself, through His Son Jesus on the cross. Forgiveness and mercy … sometimes it’s so hard! They require humility and trust. It takes humility to submit to God’s ways. It also takes trusting God as our deliverer and provider and defender and avenger. Both are required to obey Him to love our enemies. God alone can give us that love in our hearts.

When the Son of Man returns in all His splendor, will He find faith on earth? Will He find people who walk by faith and are merciful as their Father is merciful?

God, would You increase the love in my heart? Help me to be humble before You and to trust in You. I want to love my enemies by obeying You in faith. God, I want to be wise. Lord, I surrender. The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord. I bow down before You, Lord. I submit to Your ways and Your commands. Help me to love my enemies and those who hurt me. Thank You, Lord Jesus. I trust in You.

In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart. (Matthew 18:34-35).

In this day and age, we like to think of God as always full of love, kindness and patience, almost incapable of anger and wrath. We would rather think of Him as our Savior and Friend. We would rather not think of Him as Master or Judge. The truth is that although no one has more love for us than God, He does sometimes get angry with us. In the story of the unmerciful servant, the master showed incredible kindness to the servant who owed him far, far more money than he could ever possibly pay back. This represents the amazing love that God showed us when He paid the unmeasurable cost of our redemption with the blood of His only Son. Knowing that we could never save ourselves, He sacrificed for us in order that we could. Having received such kindness, the servant should have then paid it forward, so to speak, forgiving others. Yet he did not. He unmercifully had a brother thrown into prison because he could not pay back a tiny amount of money. This made the master very angry so he had the servant thrown into prison just as the he had done to his brother. There he was to be tortured until he should pay back all he owed. However, the servant would never be able to pay back all he owed. The implication is that he would be tortured forever. In the same way, we can never pay back to God all we owe for our sins. Without His grace, we can expect to be tortured for all eternity in hell. What a terrible rejection it is to be angrily thrust away from God’s loving kindness like that to face inescapable and neverending suffering! The sobering reality is that God won’t gingerly and reluctantly drop into hell those who abuse His kindness. No, hot with anger, God will have them thrown into the fiery lake of burning sulfer (Revelation 21:8) where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched (Mark 9:48).

Is this the same Jesus who loves the little children? Is this the same God who loves us so much that He sacrificed His own Son for our sakes. Yes. We have the opportunity to receive His amazing love. In doing so, we also receive the joyful charge to pass along that love to others. Yet it is also a solemn responsibility with a painful penalty for unfaithfulness. Because of the blood of Christ, we can approach the throne of grace boldly and joyfully, yet we need to remain humble and maintain a healthy fear of the Lord as we serve Him and live our lives. As we have freely received from Him, we must also freely give to others.

Lord, change me into Your image. Help me to be faithful to You and to love others. Transform my heart to no longer be selfish but to consider others’ needs before my own. Give me the capacity to forgive and to show kindness even to my enemies and the unmerciful. Help me to love people even if they don’t deserve it because I didn’t deserve Your love and You loved me anyway. Praise You, Heavenly Father, for Your love is better than life! 

 ”The greatest love is shown when people lay down their lives for their friends” (John 15:14).

The greatest love is to die for your friend. To die for someone is to give up everything you have for them. All future comforts, business successes, children (and future generations), all beloved relationships and of course life. It’s a huge sacrifice. Jesus commanded us to love each other. Each time I inconvenience myself a little in order to help a friend, I die a little, sacrifice a little, in order to love that friend. Jesus commands us to love each other in the same way He loves us. This means we should be willing even to make the ultimate sacrifice for our friends.

Now there’s a little matter about friendship. Jesus makes a distinction between a friend and a servant. Friends confide in one another. But a master will not share secrets with his servants. Jesus confided in the disciples in that He told them what the Father told Him. Later Jesus said that at some future time He would be able to tell them plainly about the Father without using parables. I assume his to mean when the Spirit of truth, the Counselor, would be given to guide them into all truth.

So then the greatest love seems to have two components: (1) the ultimate sacrifice and (2) trust. The first part, sacrifice, is crucial. It involves a choice to willingly forsake what you have in order to benefit someone. That person may be a friend, stranger or even an enemy (Matt 5:44). God teaches us to love sacrificially no matter who is in need, no matter whether we receive anything in return. In laying down our lives we should not expect thanks, compensation, relationship or friendship. To love sacrificially is to give up without expecting a return.

The second part of the greatest love is trust. When you trust a friend, you are wililng to share your innermost thoughts and feelings. Christ shared what was most precious: knowledge about the Father. But this trust is conditional. Christ said: “You are my friends if you obey me” (John 15:14). And He also said: “Don’t give the sacred to dogs. Don’t give pearls to swine! They will trample the pearls, then turn and attack you” (Matt 7:6). So then perhaps the saying is true: trust is earned.

So then we can love strangers and enemies by making large sacrifices for them. This is a powerful love. Yet the greatest love is when we lay down our lives for our trusted friends. This kind of love has not only sacrifice but also relationship.

Lord, teach me how to deny myself and take up my cross and follow You. Give me the grace to so identify with You in Your death that I may be able to make sacrifices cheerfully in order to love my neighbors and even enemies. Also, please give me wisdom to know who to trust and confide in. Let me be like You and lay down my life for my friends. In doing so may I bring glory to Your name. Praise be to the Lord Jesus Christ who first loved us!

“I will make you my wife forever, showing you righteousness and justice, unfailing love and compassion. I will be faithful to you and make you mine, and you will finally know me as LORD” (Hosea 2:19-20).

An incredible percentage of the Bible is devoted to describing humanity’s despicable record of depravity over the ages. From the very first family that ever existed one brother murdered the other. Sin and wickedness increased so much until God couldn’t bear it anymore and He wiped out the entire planet with the Great Flood and started over with Noah’s family. But it didn’t take too long for wickedness to begin again. We human beings are so devoid of faithfulness and honor that it is mind-boggling that God would still be willing to tolerate us.

In Hosea, God compares His people to a wife who is so brazenly unfaithful that she openly goes out to practice prostitution. Over and over she commits adultery for profit. Although she deserves to be stoned to death by what she’s done, God promises to pay good money to get her back.

“For the LORD still loves Israel even though the people have turned to other gods, offering them choice gifts.” So I bought her back for fifteen pieces of silver and about five bushels of barley and a measure of wine. (Hosea 3:1-2). 

It is almost inconceivable that God would still love us after countless generations of wickedness in which we have sinned against God. But He does. He still loves us. In the story, Hosea had to pay in order to redeem his wife and bring her back to him. In the same way, God had to pay with the life and suffering of His Son Jesus Christ to redeem us and bring us to salvation.

Although we don’t deserve it, God still loves us. I don’t think we will ever be able to fully comprehend the depth and long-suffering of God’s love.

The next time I am tempted to sin, I hope I will remember Gomer, Hosea’s prostitute wife, and think of how much grief God has already suffered to love me. I hope this will help me to say no to sin so that I may not grieve the Lord who still loves me. As the Scripture says: He will be faithful to me and make me His, and then I will finally know Him as Lord.

Dear Father in heaven, thank You from the bottom of my heart for Your kindness and patience. It just blows me away. I can’t imagine why You would forgive me over and over. Lord, help me to be faithful to You that I may truly know You as Lord. Thank You so much for Your love. I receive Your love. Now that You have bought me, I am no longer my own. Teach me to surrender to Your Holy Spirit and to follow You. Help me to love You and my neighbors just as You have loved me. 

“Go and marry a prostitute, so some of her children will be born to you from other men. This will illustrate the way my people have been untrue to me, openly committing adultery against the LORD by worshipping other gods” (Hosea 1:2).

In Hosea, God compared spiritual idolatry with sexual adultery. Both are betrayals. Both involve abandoning a deep commitment. God had Hosea marry Gomer, a prostitute, as an example of how the Israelites had openly committed adultery against God by worshipping other gods. This makes me realize that God chose the Israelites as His people already knowing their nature … that of an adulterous prostitute. God knew way ahead of time that we are wayward and sinful and yet He chose us anyway. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. This is the amazing love of God.

God informed Hosea ahead of time that some of the children Gomer would have would be born from other men. God named the second and third children “Not loved” and “Not My people”. Later God promised that God would one day reunite His people under one leader and then their names would be changed to “The ones I love” and “My people”. This is amazing to me. In the example of Hosea, some of his children were bastard children borne in adultery. I know that much of my life has suffered the “evil fruits” of idolatry greed and lust. Yet God is willing to take what the enemy meant for evil and turn it around into something good. It is amazing that God would take people steeped in sin and bring them into His Kingdom to make them His people that He loves.

But I, the LORD their God, will show love to the people of Judah. I will personally free them from their enemies without any help from weapons or armies (Hoesa 1:7).

Despite our sinfulness, God promised to show His love. In light of His amazing love, how can I respond except to despise my sinful betrayal against God and cry out with thanksgiving for His mercy. I must trust in His promise of love that He will personally free me from my enemies without having to rely on human strength.

God, please help me to trust in You and truly believe and receive Your love. Let me rely on Your promise to deliver me from all my enemies. Help me to live like “one whom You love”. And let me live up to the high calling of being on of “Your people”. Thank You so much for Your kindness, mercy and love. 

Then Jonah went out to the east side of the city and made a shelter to sit under as he waited to see if anything would happen to the city. And the LORD God arranged for a leafy plant to grow there, and soon it spread its broad leaves over Jonah’s head, shading him from the sun. This eased some of his discomfort, and Jonah was very grateful for the plant.

But God also prepared a worm! The next morning at dawn the worm ate through the stem of the plant, so that it soon died and withered away. And as the sun grew hot, God sent a scorching east wind to blow on Jonah. The sun beat down on his head until he grew faint and wished to die. “Death is certainly better than this!” he exclaimed.

Then God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry because the plant died?”

“Yes,” Jonah retorted, “even angry enough to die!”

Then the LORD said, “You feel sorry about the plant, though you did nothing to put it there. And a plant is only, at best, short lived. But Nineveh has more than 120,000 people living in spiritual darkness, not to mention all the animals. Shouldn’t I feel sorry for such a great city?”

Jonah 4:5-11 

It’s amusing to picture the prophet Jonah sitting in the dirt pouting like a little boy with the Heavenly Father trying to calm him down with Godly counsel. It makes me think of an adult and a baby. If the adult gives the baby a baby rattle, the baby may laugh and play with the toy. But when the adult takes the toy away, the baby cries. In the story, God is like the adult and Jonah is like the baby. Is God like that sometimes? Is He that capricious to give and to take away without good reason? A lot of times, I’m such a baby because I cry without stopping to wonder why or I don’t trust God that He knows best.

Jonah’s story gives me insight into the heart of God. He was right when he said that he knew God was a gracious and compassionate God, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love (v. 2). That patience and compassion was shown to Jonah. Even though he disobeyed the Lord the first time, when Jonah repented in the belly of the fish, God forgave him and gave him another chance to obey. And when the Ninevites fasted in repentance, God had mercy on them and did not destroy them.

What I learn from Jonah is not just that God is merciful, but that sometimes He does things that we don’t like in order to help us realize and receive His kindness. For example, Jonah had broken his relationship with God through rebellion. So God sent a storm and the fish. That probably wasn’t pleasant for Jonah at the time. But without them Jonah may never have repented and experienced God’s restoration. In the same way, the Ninevites had sinned greatly against the Lord and were headed toward destruction. So God sent Jonah with a prophecy of destruction, which was probably terrifying to the local residents of Ninevah. The ensuing fear was probably not pleasant. But without it they would not have repented and so experienced God’s forgiveness.

We human beings are so wayward; I know I am. We stray so easily and often do things to ruin our fellowship with the Lord. His heart is always to bring us back to full fellowship and relationship with Him. Sometimes He does things to us that are certainly not pleasant. At that point we have a choice to either (1) cry like a baby and get so angry we wish we could die or (2) stop, repent and turn back to the Lord to receive the mercy He longs to show us.

God seems to have a reputation for being mean and judgmental in the Old Testament. But through Jonah’s life, we see that God is more like a parent who loves His children. Children are often sullen and mad when they get spanked by their parents. Later when they grow up having a depth of character, they realize how much their parents loved them.

Lord, help me to grow up. I no longer want to be a baby that only knows how to cry and get upset. Help me to put my trust in You no matter what You do. And give me the grace to understand Your love in its many forms. Help me to turn to You for forgiveness, then receive Your mercy and share it with others.

Love is kind. If someone is kind, they are gentle and friendly. They love to do good to others and to generously give of themselves and their things. Their words build up, not tear down. They first concern is always for the welfare of others rather than themselves. So they never demand their own way. Their hearts are always filled with a desire to bless others. They don’t get this desire from themselves. Their eyes and hearts are always fixed on the Lord in worship. In this constant communion with the Lord, they catch His heart. They are filled from above with a divine desire to bless others. Their hearts become so big from this in-filling from the Lord that the blessing naturally pours out and touches those around them. Love is kind, gentle, generous and self-sacrificing.

Love is patient and merciful. Kindness from the Lord transforms us into His image. It is His kindness that leads us to repentance, to turn away from sin and toward God. When we’ve been forgiven, God fills our hearts with kindness so that we can do to others what God did to us. Just as God showed us kindness in response to our sin against Him, we get to show kindness in response to those who sin against us. This is the true image of God in our lives. Received mercy allows us to forgive. It also allows us to be patient with those struggling with sin because we know that we ourselves have struggled and were forgiven, and that we still are struggling and are being forgiven. We know that it is only by grace that we stand. Therefore we know that we have no right to judge anyone else. We have no right to elevate ourselves over others. Instead, God fills our heart with mercy. This mercy allows us to be patient and not easily angered. Love is full of grace.

Love never gives up. Big hearts are so consistently full of kindness and mercy that are reliable and trustworthy. They become known for their faithfulness and loyalty. Big hearts are the foundation of the church because they provide stability for other. Because of kindness, big hearts aren’t stumbled by difficulty; they always keep on giving. Because of mercy, big hearts aren’t bombs that blow up on a short fuse; they always keep on forgiving. “Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.” If there is anyone who is dependable, it is God. Whenever I sin, the very moment I turn to God, He is always immediately ready with mercy and forgiveness. There is never a doubt that He will not be there. Those filled with love from above have big hearts that never fail.

Love is meek. The reason why God fills our hearts to make them big is not so that we can look at our great big hearts and admire them or put them on display for others to admire. He fills our hearts because, one, God loves us very much and, two, God wants to love others through us. His purpose is for relationship. Love is never about one’s self alone. That’s why big hearts are never boastful or proud. Pride elevates self and destroys relationship. Ego causes you to set yourself apart for self-glorification. Love instead gives everything away, including all glory and honor. With pride, in the end no one ever gets the glory because it becomes corrupt and fades away. Each prideful person becomes a black hole sucking up all the light but never giving any out. With love, everyone is giving and forgiving; everyone is reflecting with the light shined on them by others and the glory of God on all grows brighter and brighter. Big hearts are humble. They have a humility that is so natural, unassuming and child-like that they aren’t even aware they are being “humble”. They just are. Big hearts are naturally meek, always surrendering honor to the Lord. They are like John the Baptist whose motto was: He must become greater and I must become less.

God is love. Love is the very essence of God’s being. Big hearts are so saturated with this essence of the life that it inevitably overflows to bless those around and even to touch the nations. This is what Jesus meant when He said to let your light shine so that others may see it and glorify your Father in Heaven. This is what He meant when He said that streams of living waters will flow from you.

Lord, fill me! Fill me to the brim with the water of life and transform me into a vessel full of love like You did when You turned plain water in to fine wine at the wedding in Cana. Give me a big heart that I may love You and love my neighbors. You are so awesome, Lord, and I want to be just like You.