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Today’s episode is entitled, “The Capacity to Love” and covers Matthew 5, verses 21-26. In this section of His message, Jesus will deal with the need for love among God’s people. Those who are blessed or approved by God, will be marked by love, not hatred. The Jews took great pride in their adherence to God’s law concerning murder. For most of the people in the crowd that day, murder may have crossed their mind at some point, but they had refused to give in. And they believed that fact counted as a plus on the righteousness side of their ledger. Yet, Jesus was about to blow that false mindset out of the water. He was going to reveal that the God wasn’t as concerned about murder as He was about the condition of the heart that could eventually result in murder. Hate was the problem. Or to put it another way, the lack of love. It wasn’t enough to not kill someone. God wanted you to love them. To refrain from murder is not a sign of righteousness and would certainly not qualify as love. Once again, Jesus is rocking the boat and disrupting the status quo.
Devotionary 