Grace Meditation # 12
Loving like Jesus-
Loving our enemies enough to share Jesus with Them!
Matthew 5:43-48
43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies (bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you) and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Inez was about two years old in 1894 when her father moved their family from Samson, Alabama down to DeFuniak Springs, FL. He did not believe that his children could receive a good education in Alabama at that time, and he wanted his children to have a chance to excel. Well, Inez did receive a good education and did excel. By age 15 she was certified as a teacher by the state of FL even though she had not been to college or earned a degree. (That wouldn’t happen until 1942, when she was fifty years old!) By age 18, she was the principal of a two-room schoolhouse, overseeing herself and one other teacher. She was a good teacher, even coming up with a novel plan for the kids to have a hot lunch. The school board provided her with a big pot and a potbellied stove, and Inez would have the kids bring in a little of what they had at home, a potato, a carrot- some beans or some rice-and they would have a healthy soup at lunch time! Inez would later move to Quincy, FL, where she continued teaching at a private school in Mt. Pleasant.
Though Miss Inez was a good teacher, most of the kids in her neighborhood in Quincy thought she was a grumpy, old lady- shooing them away from her pecans that fell from HER tree even outside of HER yard! Some even called her “The witch!” Maybe she was just too busy to give the kids on her street much attention-she learned how to drive for the first time at age 59! (I’m told she was a terrible driver! She would start her car with her foot smashed down on the gas and you could hear the engine roaring all over Quincy!) She then earned her master’s degree in education at age 60!
Miss Inez retired at age 70, and it was about that time that a local pastor invited her to church. And for the first time, Inez received Jesus as her Savior! According to all accounts the change in her was amazing! She became the sweetest old thing you could ever imagine, loving on all the kids-never missing a Sunday at her new church. She loved her church family, and they loved her! Jesus made a huge difference in her life! She would even bring visitors to church with her-patients from the State Mental Hospital in Chattahoochee where she volunteered well into her 70’s. As her eyesight began to fail, the pastor would pick her up for church every Sunday.
One day, in the early 1980’s, when Miss Inez in her 90’s, a teenager broke into her home and viciously assaulted her, attempting to rob her home. To keep her quiet, the young man shoved a stick in her mouth and continued beating her. But, even as weak and frail as she was in her early 90’s, she kept screaming and yelling for help, and eventually the young man gave up and ran. Those who helped to clean up the house after the assault say there was blood everywhere! It was incredible that she lived through it! The young man was caught and arrested and served 7+ years in jail for his crime.
Then, one day in her late 90’s, Miss Inez was sitting on her porch, and through her failing eyesight she saw a twenties something man walk up to her fence. He asked if she recognized him and she replied, “Yes, I do! You are the young man who attacked me 7 or 8 years ago.” She continued, “Come up here on the porch and sit with me and let’s have a little chat.” And the young man did. And she proceeded to get out her large print Bible and read to him. Miss Inez Todd, a 20-year member of New Philadelphia Presbyterian Church in Quincy, told that young, black man that she loved him and forgave him, as she had been forgiven, and the young man prayed to receive Jesus as his Savior-to be forgiven of his sins! Just a few years later, Miss Todd passed away at the age of 100.
What kind of love is that!? That would cause a woman, viciously attacked in her 90’s, to love and forgive her attacker?! A love that would cause her to want to see a man who had harmed her so greatly come to know the Lord and become her brother in Christ?
The supernatural love of Jesus that He alone can work in the hearts of born-again believers in Him, through His Holy Spirit! Completely contrary to human nature, the love of Jesus empowers us to love the unlovable-even those we would naturally consider enemies-those who have sinned against us and harmed us. The same kind of love the Father Has for US, who by nature are His enemies, and who have grossly sinned against Him-the same kind of forgiveness He has for us when we continue to sin against Him, and don’t love Him the way we should, even afterwe receive Him as Lord. The same kind of love that caused Jesus to look on those who viciously tortured Him and nailed Him to the cross and said, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” No one can accuse Jesus of not “putting His money where His mouth is!” He loved and prayed for His attackers. And we need to remember that we are just as responsible for nailing Him to the cross as they were! Miss Todd was loving like Jesus!