Think About It

          I have been reading a book by Randy Harris called “Living Jesus:  Doing What Jesus Says in the Sermon on the Mount”.  In the section where Jesus observes, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’   But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you …” Randy asks how many of us actually have enemies.  There may be some people who have sworn enemies that we can’t stand, but a lot of us don’t have relationships that have deteriorated to that level.  So, can we ignore this verse?  Unfortunately, the author challenges to us think about the “irritants” in our lives.   How could this passage change if we reworded it to include, “But I say to you, love your irritants and pray for those who irritate you …”.  Ouch!  That’s not as much fun as passing over this message because we get along with most people, but I really believe it is a vit...