Tuesday after the Ninth Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on August 8, 2023 by under
Scripture: St. Luke 6:32-36 (NKJV)
6:32 “But if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive back, what credit is that to you? For even sinners lend to sinners to receive as much back. 35 But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil. 36 Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful.
Devotion
Let’s be clear. You cannot earn salvation. Good behavior does not earn the reward of eternal life. Every one of us is an unworthy sinner who is saved solely by the perfect life and death of our Savior, Jesus Christ. However, the Triune God does encourage good behavior by promising various kinds of rewards, both in this world and the next. For example, obedience to the Fourth Commandment offers the promise that “it may go well with you and you may enjoy long life on the earth.”
In today’s text Jesus negates even the possibility of a believer getting “credit” with doing a good work for three kinds of behavior. Loving those who love you is not a good work. Doing good to those who do good to you is not a good work. Lending to those who lend back to you is not a good work. Those three behaviors are simply the self-serving transactions of unbelievers.
Jesus explains that believers are called to imitate God, who “is kind to the unthankful and evil.” When we love and do good to our enemies and lend without expecting a return, those are good works. That kind of action would be to our “credit.” That is, our God would call it a good work. That kind of selfless action is prompted by the Holy Spirit. We are called to continue to be merciful, just as we continue to receive the mercy of God.
Prayer: Let Thy merciful ears, O Lord, be open to the prayers of Thy humble servants; and, that they may obtain their petitions, make them to ask such things as shall please Thee; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
