Matthew 5:38 You have heard that it was said, "An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth." (39) But I tell you not to resist him who is evil; rather whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also. (40) And to him who wishes to sue you and take your tunic, yield to him your cloak also; (41) And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two.
[Part 1 of 2] More than half of our life is spent in reactions. When we feel happy about what others are saying, we are reacting. When we feel angry about what others are saying, we are reacting as well. We react when we are agitated, and we react when we resent mistreatment. When we analyze human living carefully, we find that we live in our reactions more than half the time. Let us read Matthew 5:38-48. This section of the Word deals with reactions. "An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth" means that if anyone hurts my eye, I will also hurt his eye. If anyone breaks my tooth, I will also break his tooth. I will do to others as they have done to me. This is one kind of reaction. Men in the Old Testament age reacted this way under the law. However, the Lord said that our reaction should be different. We should be different in the way we react. We should not resist those who are evil. Do you realize that the left cheek, the cloak, and the second mile are all Christian reactions? Man's demand is the right cheek, but our reaction is to give the left cheek as well. Man's demand is the tunic, but our reaction is an additional cloak. Man's demand is one mile, but the Christian reaction is two miles. The whole of Matthew 5 reminds us of one thing--our reactions have to be different. The Christian life is expressed through a totally different set of reactions. [Continued tomorrow]
Bible verses are taken from the Recovery Version of the Bible and Words of Ministry from Watchman Nee, Messages for Building Up New Believers, pp.363-364. Both are published by Living Stream Ministry, Anaheim, CA. Please visit us at www.emanna.com. Send comments to: [email protected].
To unsubscribe from the mailing list, either: Send an email to: [email protected] (No subject or message needed; a blank email will work) or visit www.emanna.com and fill out the unsubscribe form there.
