The Extra Mile...

"Whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him two."--Matthew 5:41.  Here Jesus is beginning a discourse on how to deal with our enemies.  It is here in this context that we learn that we are to love our enemies.  More specifically in this verse we are told to go the extra mile.

The extra mile.  Going the extra mile is a familiar saying to all of us.  What this means is doing more than expected.  Doing more than just the bare minimum.

The extra mile.  A lot of times we are going to be asked to do something we do not necessarily want to do.  The question becomes what do we do then?  Go the extra mile.

The extra mile.  More often than not, when we do more than is expected of us, it makes an impression on people.  It shows people that despite the fact that we might not want to do whatever it is we are asked to do, we are still making a choice to put our best foot forward.  This makes an impression on people when you go the extra mile.

The extra mile.  So how can we apply this to our Christianity?  We know that there are people out there that we don't necessarily like.  Furthermore, these people might ask us to do something for them.  What do we do then?  Again, go the extra mile.

The extra mile.  The funny thing about people we don't like, "enemies" if you will is that if we make a choice to serve them and even if they don't ask us to, the relationship can slowly begin to change.  This is one major benefit of going the extra mile with our enemies or those people we might not necessarily like.  There are other passages that speak about doing good to our enemies but tonight we are looking at what Jesus says about the situation.  The fact that the relationship can change is one of the major benefits of going the extra mile.

The extra mile.  So my encouragement to you tonight is this.  GO THE EXTRA MILE!  This will take swallowing and maybe even chewing some of our pride.  We all have one or more people we don't necessarily like.  My encouragement or even my challenge to you tonight is to go that person you probably can't stand and do some kind of act of service for him or her.  Easier said than done I know but that's just the point when we go THE EXTRA MILE!

PRAY ABOUT IT! DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! LOVE Y'ALL! GOD BLESS!