Questions for reflection or discussion:
1)    Read Luke 6:27–31. You may or may not have an outright “enemy” in your life but think of someone who irritated or offended you in the past week. If you were to apply these verses to that situation, what do you think Jesus would have done? 

 

2)    What is the story you told yourself about yourself when you were bothered/hurt/angered, and with that in mind, what might we learn about ourselves when we encounter an “enemy”? What might you need to let go of in order to do what Jesus asks of us in verse 31? 

 

3)    Read Luke 6:32–36. Thinking again of a situation that upset you in the past week, if you had the courage to ask, “What does love require of me in this situation,” what loving acts could you do that might bring healing? How might you see the rewards of verses 35–36 play out for you?

 

4)    How does loving our enemies help us submit to the authority of Jesus?

 

5)    Read Luke 6:37–42. What kinds of “specks” in other people do you notice easily? Do you agree that what you tend to notice in others often relates to what you are sensitive about in yourself? 

 

6)    Do you know someone who gives grace relentlessly—who instead of judging and condemning is quick to forgive and to give? Do you see them receiving abundant goodness that is “pressed down, shaken together, and running over” (vs. 38)? What does that look like?

 

7)    Read Luke 6:43–45. What do we see from these verses that reveals a good tree from a bad one? How could you use your “fruit” to love someone hard to love?

 

8)    Read Luke 6:46–49. What have you observed about the stability of people’s “foundations” in the storms of life? In light of what we’ve talked about today, what would help to fortify your foundation?