Are your prayers for politicians you like different from those for politicians you don’t like? Do you thank God for “your candidate” and bypass the opponent?
Matthew 5:44-46 (MSG)
I’m telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer, for then you are working out of your true selves, your God-created selves. This is what God does . . . If all you do is love the lovable, do you expect a bonus? Anybody can do that.
Pray the hard way–God’s way.
Seeing the title, “Hard People”, my mind went elsewhere, with no little bitterness, for in peacetime I am seen as a mere thug, not fit for social circles.
The war, though, will come again.
When the s*** has hit the fan,
when the blood flows in the glen,
that is when, please understand
that you need the hardest men
who will not quail at Satan’s fire,
who laugh at freshly-opened hell,
who will not in fear retire,
and who will die very well.
And you’ll love them in the night,
when courage is their testament,
but come the dawn, beyond the fight
their virtues are embarrassment,
and they will be put back in store
to be recalled in case of war.
“Who will die well.” Yes!
I heard this decades ago, and it stuck with me: “Old saints die well, just like they lived.” Bless your soul, Andrew. Live well, die well!