Live Your Blessing February 13, 2026 Devotional

MATTHEW 5:43-44 | 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 and pray for those who persecute you,

Life can be a race to the bottom. This happens when reciprocity governs every interaction. Reciprocity can be a blessing, when one good deed begets another in return. But when harm or exploitation generates a hurtful response, a cycle of “eye for eye” can literally create generations of reciprocal pain. Communities can come to define themselves over against other groups, rather than in terms of their own positive values and distinctives.

A refusal to maintain the pattern requires courage. It means redefining an enemy as a potential friend. One must forgo the right of revenge, the justifiable, and sometimes just penalty on a wrong doer. Otherwise, we are locked into roles and patterns that never change and that diminish both us and our “enemies.”

Have you ever fallen into the “race to the bottom?”

Gracious God,

I don’t want to be defensive and reactive but I often am. Help me pause before giving into righteous indignation. I ask in Jesus’ name.

Amen.