rhuff163

Devotional Guide
For the week of May 29, 2005

A DAY FOR REMEMBERING

The origin of loving our enemies


To Read: Exodus 7-9

To Know:

"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate
your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who
persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for
he makes his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the
just and the unjust." (Matt. 5:43,44)

Ever since April 19, 1775, when some unnamed Concord farmer fired the "shot
heard round the world," Americans have honored their war dead as fighters
for freedom. On Memorial Day, 2004 a long overdue monument to those who
fought in World War II was dedicated in Washington D.C. Korea, Vietnam, the
Persian Gulf and Iraq differed greatly from the Second World War. From 1939
until 1945 the fate of the free world was hanging in the balance. Americans
never feared a takeover by North Korea, Hanoi, or Saddam Hussein. World War
II was a life and death matter for the Allied nations. France, Belgium, the
Netherlands, and Scandinavia were occupied lands and Africa and Asia were
being overrun. Russia seemed doomed and England was bombed daily. The United
States of America, despite two mammoth oceans, awaited a Japanese invasion
of California and barb wired the East Coast. The possibility that this might
become a Nationalist Socialist World was very real.

Millions of Americans became soldiers. Men and women marched off to Europe
and sailed away to take back the islands of the Pacific. When the war ended
and we recalled our army and navy, we paid to rebuild our attackers. Where
did we get the idea to love our enemies? That idea came to these shores as
the faith of those who planted the churches that birthed the nation.
Congregationalism was an experiment in liberty. The Congregationalists came
here to create a culture at liberty to follow God.

To Do:

Those who believe in Jesus Christ ought to work and pray for a revival of
the faith that made us a great and good people.

05305$-05305