Most of us believe we are generous people, and most of us have never had that belief tested. We are patient with the grateful, kind to people who use our help well, and good to people who are trying. From all of that evidence we conclude something flattering about ourselves, and the conclusion holds right up until someone fails us.
The failure is what tells the truth.
People Who Deserved It is a Bible study on loving enemies, wounded pride, and the difference between kindness and love. It works through Matthew 5:43, 44 and Luke 6:32, 33, along with 1 John 3:18 and Matthew 9:36, and it is built on a story from a maintenance yard in northern Ghana, where a Peace Corps volunteer found out that one of his own mechanics had been selling the gasoline meant for village water pumps. What came up in him was not disappointment. It was rage, and it took an old night watchman standing in the dirt to stop him from using the pipe wrench in his hand.
This study does not offer easy forgiveness, and it does not ask anyone to trust a person who has proved untrustworthy. The man in the story fired the thief and never trusted him again. What it does ask is harder and plainer: that we find the condition we have quietly attached to our love, admit it out loud, and then bless, do good, and pray for someone who has earned none of it, with our teeth clenched if that is the only way it gets done.
This study explores:
● why our love usually carries a condition we have never said out loud
● what it means that sinners also love those that love them
● how the size of our anger reports on what we were actually protecting
● why Jesus erases the line we quietly drew around the word neighbor
● how compassion begins the moment an enemy turns back into a flawed person
● what Jesus saw when He looked at crowds and was moved with compassion
● why love is a set of actions rather than a warm feeling
● the difference between refusing to trust someone and refusing to love them
This Bible study kit includes:
● a complete printable Bible study
● Scripture-based teaching centered on Matthew 5 and Luke 6
● a personal narrative on theft, rage, and a maintenance yard in northern Ghana
● reflection and group discussion questions
● practical application exercises
● a closing prayer
● PowerPoint teaching slides
● printable PDFs of the study and presentation
Best for:
● personal Bible study
● small groups and Sunday school
● discipleship and mentoring
● anyone carrying anger toward someone who took advantage of them
● prison, recovery, and re-entry ministry
● men's ministry and pastoral care
Estimated study time: 60-90 minutes for group study or 30-45 minutes for personal study.
