"You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.' But I say to you, do not resist an evil person, but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also." - Matthew 5:38-39
Maybe you or someone you know has been deeply injured by another's words or actions and has found themselves saying something along the lines of, "I'm really gonna let them have it!"
The world's perspective on this phrase might look like yelling at that person (in private or in public), "telling-off" that person (in private or in public), gossiping behind that person's back, posting nasty stuff about that person on social media sites, or getting physical with that person.
But Christ's perspective on this phrase definitely does not look anything like that. In fact, His perspective looks like permitting that injurer to continue to injure you, i.e. giving them the other cheek. Of course, it gets even better than that; remember, pray for your enemies or, even better, Proverbs 25:21-22 and its use by Paul in Romans 12:20. Or maybe read the surrounding verses, Romans 12:19 & 21. (And, yes, I am going to make you look those up on your own; it will be good for you. :) )
We, as followers of Christ, must represent Him in all of our interactions with others which means not looking like the world when we "let 'em have it!"
I've tried not to share too many personal things during my time working on these DoPs; I would rather God have to say what God has to say, but I can't help but share an incident that happened to us recently because it fits so well with today's verse.
My husband, Tracy, and I do post scripture and encouragements on social media sites and we were recently slammed on a specific site by someone who barely even knows us and was definitely making false accusations; they called us hypocrites and said that we didn't choose their son to be on the All-Star baseball team because we don't like them; remember, we barely even know them. Our response – prayer, kindness, truth, encouragement, and even putting in a good word for the dad as the future head football coach. In fact, I'm hoping to see them a lot this week and can't wait to be Christ for them.
You see, we know that we can suffer for what is good and right because having the Gospel is far greater than looking good and "right" in men's eyes. We can turn the other cheek and give our enemies drink and food because we know where true drink and food and life come from – Christ Jesus. And perhaps our enemies don't know these things.
We want two things for our enemies – first, for them to see that we're really not hypocrites, but not for our sake – for Christ's. We live this life. And the other thing we want for our enemies is for them to join us at the everlasting feast; we want them to know the true life that comes with being in relationship with Christ. And the only way we can do that is by accurately representing Christ, by forgiving them (because let's face it – they really don't know what they're doing or talking about), by being exemplars of Christ to them, by giving them the other cheek.
I'm not saying be a doormat; I'm just reminding you of Nathan from two days ago. How you deal with people says a lot about who you are, so please be sure that, when you "let 'em have it," you do so as Christ has commanded, and in so doing you will be communicating the Gospel.
Praise God!
Pastor Chris
"The gospel is the story of Jesus [what God's only Son has done for us that we can't do for ourselves], spoken as a promise." - Robert Jenson
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