Who is the person you are struggling to love right now? 

Matthew 5:38-42 The Message (MSG) “Here’s another old saying that deserves a second look: ‘Eye for eye, tooth for tooth.’ Is that going to get us anywhere? Here’s what I propose: ‘Don’t hit back at all.’ If someone strikes you, stand there and take it. If someone drags you into court and sues for the shirt off your back, giftwrap your best coat and make a present of it. And if someone takes unfair advantage of you, use the occasion to practice the servant life. No more avenging. Live generously.

Turning the other cheek might not feel natural, but it IS right.  

“To die to our neighbors means to stop judging them, to stop evaluating them, and thus to become free to be compassionate. Compassion can never coexist with judgment because judgment creates the distance, the distinction, which prevents us from really being with the other.”Henri J.M. Nouwen

When we seek justice or ‘rightness’ for ourselves, we’re the center of the story. 

When Jesus is the center, then His story BECOMES our story. 

How can I point them to Christ?

Jesus isn’t asking us to do anything he hasn’t already done.

This is the place where we have the greatest opportunity to tell the story of Christmas. 

God offers such a life to us, if we choose to follow His ways.

What size is your heart? 

We take the love Jesus modeled for us and extended to us from the cross – and we offer it to others. This is the ultimate meaning of Christmas.