Mark Driscoll

“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” (Matt. 5:44). In a few simple words, Jesus captured a counter-cultural way of living that goes against our inclinations to throw gas on a

“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” (Matt. 5:44). Loving your enemies was and still is scandalous in many ways. Why? Because our sense of justice tells us that loving an

“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” (Matt. 5:44). When we are the one who has harmed someone, these words ring true and seem tender. But, when we are the one

“Beloved, if God so loved us, we must also love one another” (1 John 4:11). The practical implication of being reconciled to the source of love is that the Christian is not only loved but is also enabled to love. Romans 5:5 says, “the love of God is shed abroad in our heart by the

“In this is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins” (1 John 4:10). The most loving person who has ever walked the earth is Jesus Christ. The most loving act the world has ever seen is Jesus’ death on

“Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness'” (Gen. 1:26a). God’s love compelled him to make us in his image and likeness to be in loving relationship with him and with one another. God did not make us because He was lonely, or because He wanted someone to talk to,

“God is love” (1 John 4:8b). Love is one of the most important words in the Bible and appears roughly 800 times in the Old and New Testaments. In our culture, though, it is one of the most misunderstood words and is used for everything from sexual sin to sloppy sentimentality. In 1 John 4:8,

So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife. When they came together, the Lord enabled her to conceive, and she bore a son. Then the women said to Naomi, “Blessed be the Lord, who has not left you without a redeemer. May he become famous in Israel! He will be a comfort for your

So Boaz went up to the gate and sat down there. And now the redeemer of whom he had spoken passed by, and Boaz said, “Come over, friend, and sit here.” So he went over and sat down. Then Boaz took ten men from among the elders of the town and said, “Sit here.” So

“Now it is true that I am a redeeming kinsman. Yet there is another redeemer closer than I am. Stay here tonight, and in the morning if he wants to redeem you, very well. Let him do so. Yet if he does not want to redeem you, then I will redeem you. I will, as

So she went down to the threshing floor and did all that her mother-in-law had instructed. When Boaz had eaten and drunk and his heart was merry, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of grain. Then Ruth came softly, uncovered his feet, and lay down. At midnight, the man was

One day Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, “My daughter, why should I not find a home that will be good for you? Now is not Boaz our relative, with whose young women you have been working? Tonight he winnows barley on the threshing floor. Now wash and anoint yourself, and put on your best

Then Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “May he be blessed of the Lord who has not withdrawn His kindness to the living and to the dead.” Naomi said to her, “This man is a close relative of ours, one of our redeeming relatives.” Then Ruth the Moabitess said, “He even told me, ‘You should stay

At mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come over here, and eat some bread, and dip your piece in the vinegar.” So she sat down beside the harvesters, and he passed her some roasted grain. She ate and was full and had some left over. When she got up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men,

So she fell on her face, bowed down to the ground, and said to him, “Why have I found favor in your eyes, that you should acknowledge me, a foreigner?” Boaz answered and said to her, “I have been told all that you have done for your mother-in-law after the death of your husband, and