What Do You Do More Than Others?

In Matthew 5:47 Jesus asked the question, “what do you do more than others?” The implication is that Christians are to do more than other people. In this context Jesus is particularly speaking of our relationships with other people. As He says in verse 46, “For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do so?” meaning that anyone can and will love those who love them, it requires no special effort. As Jesus says in Luke 6:32, “even sinners love those who love them.'' Christians are required to do more. In Matthew 5:44 Jesus says, “But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who spitefully use you and persecute you.” This is not easy. Sometimes people seem to think that God is being unreasonable in giving this command. Consider this, did not God do exactly what He commands us to do when He gave His Son to be a sacrifice for our sins? In Romans 5:8 the apostle Paul wrote, “But God demonstrates His own love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” God loved unlovable people so much that He was willing to send His Son to die on the cross for us. God’s command for us to love our enemies doesn’t seem so unreasonable in light of that, does it? In the same context Jesus also says that we must be willing to do good even to people who hate us. He points out that this is necessary if we wish to be children of God; after all, “He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:45).

Imagine if God acted the way we so often do, if He only did good things for us when we did good for Him, or when it was convenient for Him, or when He was in a good mood, or when He expected to profit by it in some way. How much good would we receive from Him? If it would be a bad thing for us if God acted the way we do, perhaps we should try acting more like God does. “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above” (James 1:17).