Midweek Encouragement - "Who Deserves Love?”

"Who Deserves Love?”

"But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”

Jesus, Matthew 5:44, NIV

         I’m amazed at the power of grace-filled love! Recently I’ve seen Christ’s unconditional love change grumps into joyful believers and grouches into growing disciples. All because of caring love.

         The year was March 17, 1994. They were on their way back from a meeting of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese. Father Demetrios Frangos and Father Germanos Stavropoulos were enjoying each other’s company when they were involved in a car accident. While they were waiting at a stoplight, a young woman high on PCP drove into their car. Both priests were killed instantly.

         The woman, a legal secretary with a seven-year-old daughter, had no previous police record, but admitted to having used drugs for seven years. She was charged with vehicular manslaughter, second-degree murder and manslaughter. You can imagine what the media did with her reputation. Viciously they called her the “priest killer.”

While most members of their parishes petitioned the courts to sentence the woman with the most severe penalty allowable by law, one man, Father Demetrios’ son, George, responded with forgiveness, not anger. He offered to help provide the woman with a lawyer and hoped, if she was convicted, that the sentence would be short. He said, “The last thing my father would have wanted was to make an example of her. This woman is anguished and troubled to begin with. We have to look after the innocent one, the child. It is extremely important that her child be told that we forgive her mother.”

         George Frangos loved his father and grieved for him, but more important to him than “legal justice” was “divine justice” . . . that the woman and her little daughter know the love of Jesus Christ. John Harrigan once said, “Those who deserve love the least need it the most.”

Is there someone in your life who has betrayed or offended you? Let me encourage you to use that situation to strengthen your ability to forgive . . . especially if they don’t deserve your love. Let’s see those moments as times to strengthen our skills of empathy and to show authentic pity for their brokenness. Remember, we’re all a result from, or a reaction to, the people we meet. Could it be that those who are hurting and who hurt others have just met some of the wrong folks along their way?

Show grace, offer forgiveness, and love unconditionally today . . . and every day. Why? Because God, in Jesus His Son, forgave us much when we gave ourselves to Him.

Pastor Dale

Pastor Dale (PD) and Pamela his wife are honored to serve the Mt. Laurel Church of God. If this Mid-Week Encouragement has helped you, perhaps it may encourage someone else. Feel free to share this email with anyone you choose. And if for some reason you'd like to stop receiving PD's Mid-Week Encouragement, just send me an email (kingdomguy@gmail.com) and I'll accommodate your request.