Live Generously

Luke 6:30                                                          Live Generously

“If someone takes unfair advantage of you, use the occasion to practice the servant life.  No more payback.  Live generously” (MSG).

I’ve been reading the Gospel of Luke, and when I got to chapter six, I had to slow down.  Jesus put a lot of lessons in that particular chapter.  I was thinking of the many subjects I have to write about, when, in my mind, I had the thought, “Yeah, there’s a lot for you to learn in that chapter.”  I guess I need to pay attention to and meditate on the words of Jesus in Luke, chapter six.

I got brought up short on verse thirty today.  I had been at the grocery store and thought that they used trickery to get customers—me in particular—to pay more than they expected for one particular item.  When I got home, I was thinking of ways to get back at them.  One idea was to fill a cart with frozen food, take it to the cash-wrap, leave it there, and walk out.  As soon as that thought went through my mind, Luke chapter six, verse thirty, popped up.  “No more payback.”  When I voiced the thought that I hadn’t really done it, the thought immediately came back, “Yeah, but you thought it.”  Sometimes God brings a verse of Scripture to the forefront of my mind and makes me think about it.  I had to repent and pray for blessing upon that store.

Often our first thought is “pay back” for someone who tried to take advantage or actually did take advantage of us.  “It just seems right.  They deserve it.”  Well, I deserve punishment for my sins, but I’m not going to be punished for them.  Thank God that Jesus lived generously.  He gave up His life—He suffered torture—He suffered ridicule on my behalf because I sinned.  In this verse, He is asking me to forget the payback, forgive instead.  Wait, I don’t think Jesus is asking me to forgive or suggesting that I forgive.  He is telling me to forgive.  Unforgiveness is not an acceptable action for those claiming to be followers of Jesus.  First, I thank God for forgiving me of my sins; second, I thank Jesus for counting me as one of His followers; and third, I thank God for reminding me that I am expected to forgive.