Episode Transcript
[00:00:08] Speaker A: Hey, friends, Chuck Allen here with another weekday podcast, and thanks for joining me for this conversation and time of reflection.
[00:00:15] Speaker B: Jesus said something that at that time, and probably still today, feels so outrageous, so impossible, that most of us have sanitized it till it doesn't hurt anymore.
[00:00:30] Speaker A: Here's what he said in Matthew, chapter 5, beginning in verse 43. You have heard that the law says, love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies. Pray for those who persecute you.
What kind of person says that?
More importantly, as to our conversation today, what kind of person does that?
[00:00:54] Speaker B: The answer. The kind who dies for both sides. You see, Jesus walks straight into a divided world.
[00:01:05] Speaker A: If we think today's America is filled with division and dissension, we're right. If we think we have religious, political, and ethnic chaos, we're right.
Jesus rode that cold into Jerusalem, into a time where religious, political, and ethnic chaos was running amok. Luck. And by the way, into a community that was far more brutal than ours.
[00:01:31] Speaker B: Rome versus Israel, zealots versus collaborators, collaborators, Pharisees versus, well, everyone.
And he doesn't pick a team. He creates a new humanity. And then he tells us to follow.
[00:01:45] Speaker A: Him there, into that new kingdom, into enemy territory.
Not to convert or conquer, but to love.
Okay, I just lost some of you, so I'm going to say that again for the people in the back.
Not to convert or conquer, but to love.
Love your enemies. That's how we're to treat them. Pray for those who persecute you. That's how we're to talk about them.
[00:02:14] Speaker B: Before a holy and a righteous God.
It's not sentimental. It's not weak.
It's not like, you know, just CIS and Christianity.
[00:02:24] Speaker A: It's picking up your cross and walking towards someone who voted differently, looks different than you, comes from somewhere different than you, is a different color than you, or doesn't believe like you, and saying, hey, let's sit down and have a cup of coffee.
I love how Dr. King said it, Martin Luther King, Jr. Said, Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that. That wasn't soft talk.
[00:02:52] Speaker B: It was dangerous talk. It was revolutionary at the time, and it still is. Because love's the only weapon that's strong enough to heal hate.
Here's the hard truth, y'. All.
[00:03:03] Speaker A: If our politics gives us permission to hate people, well, we're following cable news more faithfully than we are Jesus himself.
Okay, once again, I'm going to say that again.
If our politics gives us permission to hate other people, we are following cable news or candidates or platforms more faithfully than we are.
[00:03:32] Speaker B: Jesus the Lord.
Look, y', all, love doesn't mean agreement. It means obedience. It means compassion without compromise, conviction without contempt.
[00:03:43] Speaker A: So maybe today, before you check your news feed, take a breath and whisper this Jesus, would you teach me to love like you?
Especially when it's hard, Especially when it costs me something.
Because, friends, that's the moment when grace becomes more than a song. It becomes a movement. And it all starts in your heart.
[00:04:08] Speaker B: Today, my friend, let us be a people that would set aside our desire to be right and be a people that want to make this world right. And the only way we can do.
[00:04:20] Speaker A: That is the Jesus way and the Jesus life. God bless, friend. Thanks so much for joining me on today's weekday podcast.
