by Pat Nordman

Loving someone is the easy part--it is the living with someone that turns our heart into sour mash that becomes bitter and unpalatable. This admonition to be kind and to forgive narrows it down to all, but especially those in very close quarters, such as the kin. If the Kinsman can be kind, then we can be kind to the kin!

God placed no restrictions on His kindness and neither can we. We are to assail our adversary with darts dipped in agape love, not the fetid grapes of wrath. The very nature of Jesus was and is kindness, and His territory is the depth and height and width of heaven and earth. This means that there is no place where we cannot show His love; we have no excuse for not showing and sharing His mercy and active love.

God's Word speaks of the mercy seat. At times we need to sit ourselves on His mercy seat and be recharged with His pure love that is unconditional. Our problem seems to be with the fact that His love is unconditional, conditioned on our accepting His love, which in turn grants us the privilege of being His sons and daughters. We are constantly in need of His unconditional love to keep us from losing our privileges. The continuance of our privileges depends on the continuance of our faith and our diligent effort to meet the responsibilities of these privileges, confusing as that may sound. One of these responsibilities (and privileges) is to love as He loves; to be merciful as He is merciful. It is on our individual ledger as one of those accounts payable that balances out the accounts receivable!