Luke 6:28 – Bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.
Today’s verse comes directly after one in which Jesus tells people to love their enemies and to do good for those who hate us (Luke 6:27). This is not the only place in the Bible we are told to care for our enemies. In Romans 12:20 we see that we should provide for the needs of our enemies. And in the Old Testament we see the same (Proverbs 25:21).
But today’s verse is a bit perplexing, as well. How do you bless those that curse you? It is important to understand what is meant by curse and what is meant by bless. The use of the term curse means feeling or expressing hate towards someone. We are to bless those individuals who really dislike us and don’t want to see us happy. Blessing them means responding to their hatred or dislike with the polar opposite of a response. That means we should love them (Matthew 5:44; Luke 6:35)
How can we do that? For starters we should be praying for them. The end of our verse told us that. Pray for those individuals who dislike you, curse you, and mistreat you. Pray for them and bless them (love them). By doing this, we are being obedient to Jesus’s command to love others (John 13:34; 1 John 4:19; John 15:12; Galatians 5:14)
An important thing to remember as we wrap up today’s devotion. By ourselves loving those who hate us and curse us is impossible. But with God, all things are possible (Matthew 19:26) – even something as seemingly impossible as loving our enemies and praying for those who mistreat us. Let Him work in you and through you today.
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