I’d like to begin with a true story of a missionary couple. Graham and Gladys Staines were a young couple from Australia who decided to dedicate their life to missionary service in Eastern India. They spent 34 years there, ministering the gospel particularly to lepers in the jungles of Orissa. In January of 1999, Graham took his two sons, Philip (11) and Timothy (6) to a Christian camp where Graham was going to speak. That night a mob of militant Hindu’s attacked, setting fire to the vehicle in which Graham was sleeping with his sons. When rescuers arrived, they found the charred remains of Graham with his arms around the bodies of his sons. He left behind his wife, Gladys, and a 13-year-old daughter, Esther.

Our text this morning calls us to love in a world where we will face a whole spectrum of hurts and wrongs from other people - from the minor wound of a friend’s snarky comment to the deepest betrayal of a spouse. God’s people experience injustices from petty gossip to abuse to persecution. That’s the world in which we live, and that’s the context in which we are called to live as followers of Christ and in view of Gods’ mercies.

It is precisely in the context of hard, painful relationships that we are called to bless those who seek to hurt us and to seek peace with those who’ve wounded us. This is where the unique love of Christ and the unique power of the gospel is revealed. This is where we shine as children of God in a dark world.