The Mirror, the Glove and the Palm
ICS Daily Devotions
Luke 6:27-28, 31 (NKJV) “But I say to you who hear: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you…. And just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise.
God loves us with Agape love, which is an unconditional love, and He expects us to use Agape love to love others. How we can accomplish this can be illustrated using three things: a mirror, a glove, and a palm.
The mirror represents the law, which many of us attempt to live by. However, the law cannot make us just and righteous due to the weakness of the flesh. The glove represents the individual who tries to live life with God. We can possess a form of religion yet deny the power of God to genuinely transform us. However, if we allow the palm, which represents the Holy Spirit, to live in and through us (the glove), we are empowered to live a victorious life from the inside out!
Before we were born again, we used to repay an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, but God asked us to do good to those who hate us and bless those who curse us. Therefore, go the extra mile and pray for those who spitefully use us!
We are to do unto others as we want others to do unto us. This means we should initiate love towards others and treat them as we wish to be treated. It is not an easy task, as it contradicts what our flesh desires to do. However, if we consider how merciful God has been to us by sending Jesus as a propitiation for our sins, not giving us what we deserve, we ought to extend the same to our enemies, by being merciful and forgiving towards those who have wronged and hurt us.
It is not a pleasant feeling to be taken advantage of by others, so our flesh will want to hate and curse them. When we are faced with the choice to either curse them with our words or bless them, it is helpful to remember to live from the inside out.
Galatians 2:20 (NKJV) I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
We need to die to ourselves, but we don’t have to wait until water baptism to do so. Baptism is an outward expression of our inward conviction. Our identification at baptism signifies that we have died with Christ when submerged in the water, like a form of burial, and we arise as a new man. Whether you have been baptised or not, you are dead to self and alive in Christ.
Sermon Series: Dying to Self
