Matthew 5:43-48

Discipleship Habit 01 Love
Discipleship Reflection Question: Do you live a life that evidences that you love God, Self and Others?
Jesus continues to hammer at us about this theme of love and narrows it down to a very specific action, that of loving your enemies.

• Make a list of people in your life who would fall into the category of those you dislike, who oppose you, whom you might call an enemy. (If you find it hard, think about people who you are uncomfortable in the presence of, people who you wouldn't like to be stuck in a room.)
  
• For each person think of what specifically it is you don't like about them or what they've done to you or someone else.
• Now ask God to help you pray (v44) for each of these people and begin to give you a heart of forgiveness and love for them.
• For three of these people, what is one practical action of love you could take to reach out to them and to extend forgiveness through your actions. (Examples: You might like to send a note thanking them for somethign you appreciate about them. You might like to invite them for a coffee. You might look for an opportunity to say something nice about them in a conversation.)

Important note: Forgiveness does not necessarily imply a lack of wisdom. For example if someone has stolen from your business, you can forgive them, but it doesn't mean you would put them back in a position whereby they could steal from you again. Or, if this is a person who has abused you or someone else, then forgiveness does not mean putting yourself or others in a position where abuse can happen again.