6.2.25 Luke 6:32-36

Prepare

Lord Jesus, we come to you in prayer. Our Friend. Our Brother. Our Saviour. Be with us now we pray.

Read

Luke 6:32-36

32 “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. 35 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 children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. 36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

Reflect

What does our world believe about grace? It thinks it doesn’t exist. Are we not taught from a young age that: ‘There’s no such thing as a free meal.’ The idea being that if you’re ever offered something free, in reality there’s strings attached. A free months subscription, but we’re going to sneakily sign you up for another 11 months full price. Come and try a sample of our new sausage roll, but really we want you to buy the whole thing. The idea of actually receiving something totally free, with no strings attached, just out of gracious love, is so topsy-turvy in this world that we teach children it can’t be true.

Be

Let’s spend some time thanking God for his grace to us. Romans 8:16 reminds us “The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.”

Become

Let’s ask God to make us more gracious. What do you enjoy being gracious with? Let’s ask God to grow and use these gifts that he has given us.

What do you struggle to show grace and kindness in? What are you tempted to hold onto? Let’s ask God to especially help us in this area.

Do

Let’s pray for our world that they would be amazed at the graciousness of Christians. You could pray for a certain country, place, group of people. Perhaps even people know to you: friends, colleagues, family.

Practice

I heard a story of someone who occasionally when eating out they would pay the bill for another table and walk off – a total act of grace, not even staying to see the satisfaction of a confused customer that found out they didn’t need to pay. What could you give freely with not expectations in return with your time, money or talents?