Verse of the Day for February 26

This is the hardest sentence Jesus ever spoke to ordinary people, and it is worth noticing how practical he makes it.

Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.

Four verbs, and not one of them is a feeling. Love, bless, do good, pray. Every item is something you can perform this week without any change in how you feel about the person.

The reason he gives is family resemblance: that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven, who sends rain on the just and the unjust.

God's kindness is not distributed on merit and never has been. The weather is the evidence.

Praying for someone is the item most people skip, and it is the one that changes the person praying. It is very difficult to keep a settled contempt for somebody you are genuinely asking God to bless.

He does not ask you to feel warmly toward them. He asks you to act, and to pray, and lets the rest follow or not.

Start with the prayer. It is the one that works on you.