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Today's Devotion
From Dr. David Jeremiah
Imitate God
September 16, 2026
You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.
Matthew 5:43-44
Recommended Reading:
Matthew 18:21-3521 Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?”22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven. 23 Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. 25 But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and that payment be made. 26 The servant therefore fell down before him, saying, ‘Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’ 27 Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt.28 “But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, ‘Pay me what you owe!’ 29 So his fellow servant fell down at his feet[d] and begged him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’[{{f}}] 30 And he would not, but went and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt. 31 So when his fellow servants saw what had been done, they were very grieved, and came and told their master all that had been done. 32 Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. 33 Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?’ 34 And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him.35 “So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.”[{{f}}]
Matthew 18:21-35
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus corrected a faulty reading of Leviticus 19:18. “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Jewish scribes had added these words to that verse: “and hate your enemy.” But Jesus corrected that tradition by saying, “Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you.”
When God chose to withhold judgment on the city of Nineveh, the demonstrated enemy of Israel, Jonah became angry. He had readily received grace and forgiveness from God for his own disobedience but could not reconcile the idea of God forgiving the Assyrian people. Jonah was violating the eventual New Testament principle of grace: “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you. Therefore be imitators of God” (Ephesians 4:32–5:1). What God has done for us, we are to do for others.
Is there someone to whom you can extend the same grace that God has extended to you?
True forgiveness breaks a man, and he must forgive.
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
