“But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.”

Last Sunday, the Paraclete as promised by Christ was poured into his church on the day of Pentecost. Now that the Holy Spirit enlivens our church we need to have some understanding of what this means for each one of us.

Each one of us here would freely admit to being a Christian. Each one of us seeks constantly to walk in the way of Christ and to have our path enlightened by him so that we may walk side by side together towards the promise of the kingdom.

The problem is that Christ tells us how we need to act and believe if we are to walk in the way of the Lord. Remember, as the Epistle of James reminds us, that being a Christian is not just about faith. Faith without works is dead. Further it is said “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also”. If you think about that then you begin to realise that being a Christian means to have faith in God as well as to do good works in his name. You must love the Lord with all your heart and with all your might and with all your soul and put him before mother, father, and child. Hand in hand with that is the work that you do in the name of the Lord. You can only do good works towards your fellow man. Without good works you cannot be saved for no one is an island – we all live together in relationships and relationships require hard work to be maintained.

This is where it begins to get really difficult – but no one said being a Christian is easy. Love your enemies – that is easier said than done. Bless those that curse you – how difficult that is to do. Do good to those that hate you – how much does that rub against the grain. Pray for those who spitefully use you – how do we overcome our sense of injustice to seek blessing for the oppressor from God. Yet this is what we are called to do as Christians. We are called to put aside our personal sense of worth – our self-centredness, our arrogance, our pride and our self-worth and instead assume the armour of humility, the shield of obedience, and the sword of love for all of God’s creatures be they those who loathe you, hold you in contempt, use you or otherwise revile you.

This is the lot of the Christian. This is the standard we need to aspire to. Is that standard impossible to attain? Certainly not. No matter how far we are from being perfected we need to remember that so long as we keep on trying to attain that goal it doesn’t matter how many times we fall so long as we pick ourselves up and walk towards that Christian goal. Thus then we can say and truly feel that Christ is with us by our side. Amen.