Loving Your Enemy - Sept. 3 2017 - a podcast by VOX Community Podcast

This week, Karrie went through the story in Acts of Cornelius, a ranking Roman soldier of some stature. Through visions, God called both Cornelius and Simon Peter to meet together, which led to Cornelius' conversion to follow Jesus. While this conversion was significant, Karrie pointed out that Peter had perhaps a more meaningful conversion. As context, the Romans had brutally tortured and murdered Peter's best friend and savior—Jesus—not long before. And if anyone could’ve felt justified to hate the Romans, it was Peter. Despite this, Peter responded to God’s calling without hesitation, going to Cornelius’ home and leading many to find Jesus. We too are called to be like Peter. In light of recent events such as the Charlottesville protests, we may find justification to hate those who themselves espouse hate. But Jesus calls us to exhibit “radical, scandalous, sometimes painful love” to even those who clearly hate. And this calling does not apply only in the abstract; it extends to specific people in our everyday lives whom we may be struggling to love. As Karrie beautifully reminds us, “that’s what makes you different” when you follow Jesus.

Story Telling from Maria Doliver

Maria grew up as a driven young girl who saw hard work translate into success as a gymnast. Her view of Christianity was largely framed by this mindset, but that led her to checking the spiritual boxes, but lacking a personal connection with Jesus. She eventually turned away from the church, experimenting for many years because she could not belong to a movement that was focused on finger-pointing and shaming others for being unlike the herd. After much experimentation in alternative forms of spirituality, she realized her perception of the church had been tainted and saw Jesus as her fulfillment.

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