BE LIKE YOUR FATHER (DON'T PAY EVIL FOR EVIL)

1 Samuel 24:4,6-7,12,17

“Now’s your opportunity!” David’s men whispered to him. “Today the Lord is telling you, ‘I will certainly put your enemy into your power, to do with as you wish.’” So David crept forward and cut off a piece of the hem of Saul’s robe.

He said to his men, “The Lord forbid that I should do this to my lord the king. I shouldn’t attack the Lord’s anointed one, for the Lord himself has chosen him.”

So David restrained his men and did not let them kill Saul. After Saul had left the cave and gone on his way,

“May the Lord judge between us. Perhaps the Lord will punish you for what you are trying to do to me, but I will never harm you.

And he said to David, “You are a better man than I am, for you have repaid me good for evil.

Read through chapter 24 of the book of 1Samuel, you see the way David reasoned. Yes, Saul was coming for his life, he Saul had made it his main goal to kill David, yet when the perfect opportunity arose, David spared his life.

What was David's motive, is it that David's hand was free of blood, No. David knew that Saul was the king selected by God. Though Saul had erred, it was God Himself that would take care of Saul, not him, David.

This will make you understand one reason why God said David was a man after His heart.

Listen to Christ, whom many celebrate today, yet they do not know Him.

Matthew 5:43-48

“You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy.

But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you!

In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike.

If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much.

If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that.

But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.

It was this love of God that made Him come down to earth in Christ to save us from sin and death and make us His own again.

If we are His, then our nature will also be His nature and we know His nature is love.

1 John 4:8-12

But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him.

This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.

Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other.

No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.

So what are you doing today?

Are you living like the fallen Saul or more like the standing David.

You should live like Your Father.

How?

1 John 4:13,15,21

And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us.

All who declare that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God.

And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their fellow believers.

We let God's Spirit in us guide us. What is the first nature of the Spirit?

Love!

Galatians 5:22-23

But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!

Oh help us Good Lord.

PRAYER

Loving Father, it was in Your love that You came in Your Son to set us free and make us Yours. Thank You Father, help me live in Your nature, walking in love and pleasing You in all things. Glory to Your name Lord forevermore.

He calls us blessed.

Love

@the watcher