Matthew 5:41 And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. (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, (45) So that you may become sons of your Father who is in the heavens,
[Part 2 of 2] When others strike our cheek, the Lord does not want us to react with wrath. Neither does He want us to endure passively when others take our tunic. The Lord tells us to turn our left cheek when others strike our right cheek and to give others our cloak when they want our tunic. This is not endurance but transcendence. This kind of reaction goes beyond man's demand. Man demands only so much, but we can do more before the Lord than just meet man's demand. We can exceed man's demand, not just meet it. Brothers and sisters, the Lord tells us that Christians should have only one kind of reaction. We should react by transcending [in His holy life] , not reasoning or enduring. Please remember that those who do not transcend are not acting like Christians. The Lord does not tell us to return an eye for an eye, to hurt the other person's eye when they hurt our eye. Neither does He say that we should passively endure when others hurt our eye. He says that we should add an eye to an eye. An eye for an eye is a reaction. Anger is a reaction. Endurance is a reaction. An eye plus an eye is another kind of reaction. Of these reactions, all but the last should be rejected.
Bible verses are taken from the Recovery Version of the Bible and Words of Ministry from Watchman Nee, Messages for Building Up New Believers, p.368. Both are published by Living Stream Ministry, Anaheim, CA. Please visit us at www.emanna.com. Send comments to: [email protected].
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