EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/24/2026
7:43 PM
My
Worship Time Focus: "The
Benefits of Kingdom Love”
Bible
Reading & Meditation
Reference: Luke 6:35-36
Message of the verses: “But love your enemies, and do good,
and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you
will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself
is kind to ungrateful and evil men.
Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”
It seems to me that this possibility could be the
heart of this section as which as we stated is a shorter part of our Lord’s
Sermon on the Mount. If we look at what
Christ did, He certainly loved His enemies because He took their place on the
cross, dying for their sins.
A quick mention on why there was no
SD for this morning. My wife, who is on
hospice is battling cancer and had to have a procedure that will make her
battle easier. Many people were praying
for this procedure to go well and the Lord honored those prayers in a wonderful
way, as the procedure went well, and the entire day was certainly a blessing
from the Lord. This procedure will only
help her to be more comfortable in her battle with cancer, but we are praying
that the Lord will sustain our whole family as they are certainly all involved
in helping their grandmother, grandfather, including our children and seven
grandchildren, they even gave up their vacation to continue their help for us.
John MacArthur wrote “In a point-by-point
contrast to the selfish, quid pro quo love of unbelievers described
above, Jesus commanded His disciples to love their enemies, not
merely those who love them, do good to all, not only those who do good
to them, and lend with no strings attached, expecting nothing in
return. Such love is neither natural
nor normal by human standards, but the benefit of loving that easy, Jesus
promised, is that their reward will be great.
“The reward in view here is not the eternal,
heavenly reward mentioned in 6:23, but one in the world of men.” “23
Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great
in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets.” “When Christians love with the unconditional,
supernatural love God puts in their hearts (Rom. 5:5), sinners will be astounded.”
“5 and hope does not put us to shame,
because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who
has been given to us.” “This is a love
that is foreign to their experience, and shows that those who manifest it are sons
of the Most High (a name used fifty times of God that emphasizes His
sovereignty). It validates the gospel’s
claim to have the power to supernaturally transform those who believe it.
“Believers can ‘adorn the doctrine
of God’ (Titus 2:10) and be imitators of
Him (Eph. 5:1) by showing kindness to others, for He himself is kind to
ungrateful (2 Tim. 3:2) and evil men (Rom. 3:10; 2 Tim. 3:13).”
(Titus
2:10)
“10 not pilfering, but showing all good faith, so
that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior.”
(Eph. 5:1)
“1 ¶ Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved
children.”
(2 Tim. 3:2)
“2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of
money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful,
unholy,”
(Rom. 3:10; 2 Tim. 3:13)
10 as it is written,: "None is righteous,
no, not one;”
“13 while evil people and impostors will go on
from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.”
“In common
grace of God gives sinners what they do not deserve; He ‘causes His sun to rise
on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous’
(Matt. 5:45; cf. Ps. 145:15-17).”
(cf. Ps. 145:15-17).
“15 The eyes of all look to you, and you give
them their food in due season. 16 You open
your hand; you satisfy the desire of every living thing. 17 The LORD is righteous in all his ways and
kind in all his works.”
“Christ’s disciples
also demonstrated kingdom love when they are merciful, just as their Father
is merciful. Mercy is the flip side
of kindness. God’s mercy causes Him to withhold
the judgment that sinners deserve. He is
‘patient…not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance’ (2
Peter 3:9). But those who spurn His
mercy and ignore His kindness (Rom. 2:4) by refusing to repent of their sins
and turn to Jesus Christ in humble faith will face eternal damnation (John
3:36).”
(Rom. 2:4)
“4 Or do you presume on the riches of his
kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant
to lead you to repentance?”
(John 3:36)
“36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life;
whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains
on him.”
“When
believers love like God does, demonstrating kindness and mercy, they give
evidence to the watching world that He is their Father.”
7/24/2026
8:35 PM
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