Today’s Podcast
Today’s Bible reading plan:
Read it in a year – Matthew 5-6
see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)
Today’s Devotional
Matthew 5:38-42
Jesus: You know that Hebrew Scripture sets this standard of justice and punishment: take an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I say this, don’t fight against the one who is working evil against you. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, you are to turn and offer him your left cheek. If someone connives to get your shirt, give him your jacket as well. If someone forces you to walk with him for a mile, walk with him for two instead. If someone asks you for something, give it to him. If someone wants to borrow something from you, do not turn away.
What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?
This part of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount doesn’t resonate well in today’s market. Take a look at the news media and you’ll see the evidence of what I’m talking about. Everyone wants justice. We even have the news reporting councilmen calling for the “stoning of cops” who are trying to keep peace in racially volitile cities and circumstances. What ever happened to our Christian nation and Jesus’ call to turn the other cheek?
Did He really mean for us to take the abuse others might deal out to us and just roll over and play dead? Did Jesus really want us to suffer at the hands of our enemies and let them punish us unjustly? Did He really call for us to bear injury and insult when we have within our means to defend ourselves against those who would harm us?
The answer to each of those questions is yes. The problem in our society today is we have become so sensitive to wanting our own way and wanting what we want, we forget that our wants are really not important. It’s what God wants that’s important. Walking through this life and fighting against evil is not our fight. It’s God’s. Remember the prayer Jesus taught us to pray? He says, “Keep us from the evil One.” That’s what God wants to do for us.
Paul talks about suffering and the abuse we can expect as Christians. But he reminds us that Christ also suffered wrongly. He suffered for doing good. Those who persecuted Jesus, Paul, the Apostles and the saints Paul writes about suffered for doing what was right. They broke no laws. They slander none of the authorities. They damaged no property. Still they were beaten, imprisoned, and often executed. Jesus was crucified as a sinless sacrifice. None of us can stand up to that standard. We have all sinned.
But in as much as we can obey the laws of our land and love and help our neighbors, we should. In as much as we can demonstrate love to our enemies, God says we must. But recognize we will still suffer abuse at their hands. And Jesus says, “Turn the other cheek.” Show them kindness. Love instead of hate. Show them that you recognize they are still one of God’s creation and He loves them through you.
Is it easy? No. But possible through God’s Spirit living in you. Paul talked about the number of Roman guards converted while he was prisoner. Why? Because he didn’t fight against them, but loved them with God’s love. He understood their abuse and persecution was because Satan blinded them to the truth of God’s love. Paul shared what he gained through that Damascus Road experience and loved them with a love they could not understand. And over time, some of those rough, battle-hardened soldiers came to know Christ because of Paul’s witness.
Like Jesus, Paul accepted the persecution, the beating, the imprisonment, because he knew his accusers acted out of ignorance. They didn’t know they acted out through selfishness against God, not necessarily against Paul. So it is with those who strike out against us. So often what seems like a personal attack isn’t. It’s the other person’s selfish motives shining through. It’s that carnal nature screaming out I want my way more than anything else. I don’t care about anyone or anything except me and my desires and I’ll do whatever I want to get my way.
So what do we do in today’s world to carry out Jesus’ words? Do we let the world run over us? I don’t think so, but neither do we take up stance we see so many groups taking today either calling for their own way. I think the answer is we extend God’s love. Will we be hurt in the process sometimes? Expect it. Jesus was. The crowds crucified Him. The harder life is to live as a living sacrifice sometimes. But He calls us to that life. Be Christ to those who would abuse us. Live with His plans in mind instead of our own.
What is His will for a situation? I expect it isn’t the protests in the street, the name calling, the slander, or the radical calls to exterminate one sect or another. I expect Christ would gently call us to give up our shirt and coat, walk an extra mile, turn the other cheek, say a kind word, give a cup of water, bandage a cut knee, pick up the trash, mend a fence, paint a wall, provide a meal, sit at a table and share a cup of coffee, be a friend.
How can you share Christ in a crisis? Sticks and stones never work, but a few loving words might make all the difference in the world. Walk the extra mile with someone today.
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