"That you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous" (Matthew 5:45).
The teaching, that you may be children of your Father in heaven requires us to act on our love of our enemies. The highest reward goes only to those who meet this high ethical and moral standard. When one holds the values expressed in the Beatitudes, one becomes like the Lord, mentally and spiritually. Symbolically, the New Testament speaks of this as a new birth. John records Jesus' explanation of this spiritual birth:
“Jesus answered, ‘I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, “You must be born again" (John 3:5-7).
Paul described how the birth occurs in his letter to the Romans:
“Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that we may rise with Him"( Romans 6:3-40).
Although this rising with Jesus is difficult, we need to remember that we do not have to do this alone. In order to experience a rebirth with Jesus, we must rely on Jesus to help us experience this rebirth. We need to realize that must place our trust and faith in Jesus in order to share in Jesus' life. Ask, and for help and it will be given to you.
Peace and Love,
Sue
"Be still and know that I am God"(Psalm 46:10)
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