Abraham Lincoln was a master of forming alliances between peoples of divergent opinions. He incorporated people who disagreed with him into his personal staff. This didn't always promote harmony in the White House. One day one of his advisors came to him and said, "Mr. President, you really have to destroy your enemies."

Mr. Lincoln smiled and said, "Isn't that what I do when I make them my friends?"

Called To Be Different..

Sometimes we come face to face with people who have different opinions and ideas about life than we do. Sometimes our relationship with them becomes antagonistic. We hate to even see them coming. We want them out of our lives. Well it is possible to change all that. We just have to follow Jesus' direction.

Jesus said, "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you and pray for them that despitefully use you." Matthew 5.44 We need to follow Jesus' direction. It is really very simple to do. Jesus gives the instructions and the method right in this little verse.

The way you begin to love that person who has hurt you, is ugly to you, has done something wrong against you.. is to bless them. That is the opposite of our natural response. Our response is to fight back.. to give them what they gave us or more. Instead we are to bless them. Bless them by not fighting back.. bless them by still being the pleasant person you are.. bless them by continuing to be friendly toward them.

Jesus doesn't stop with blessing them. He says, ".. to do good to them that hate you.." Instead of fighting back or trying to get revenge.. we not only bless them.. we do good to them. We go out of our way to be extra nice. We speak highly of them. We may go so far as to bring them a small gift. Intead getting even or doing evil.. we do good to them.

Yikes that is hard but Jesus takes one step further and this is the most important way to love them.. He says, "..pray for them.." Most people are hurtful to others because they are full of hurt. We need to pray for them. Ask God to touch their lives.. To help them with their hurts and maybe even change them.

If we act like this.. we will make a difference! We will make a difference in our attitudes. We will make a difference in the lives of those who see us acting like this. Most of all, we can make a difference in that person life.

It is our pray today that the Lord will bless everyone who reads this and acts on it. "Lord, give them a blessing that they can't contain."