Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ©
But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also.
(Matthew 5:39 (NIV))
Have you ever had this happen to you?
Perhaps you have a different experience where it is not a physical slap, but rather an off handed remark or action.
Either way, how do you handle these types of situations? Does your human nature desire retaliation in order to gratify that sinful nature that we all fight? Do you let it grow within you until you want to explode with rage? Or do you stop, take a breath and pray for guidance?
Physical attacks are very obviously a willful and deliberate attack, but what about off handed remarks or actions? Are they deliberate attacks? In some cases they probably are, but in other situations, they could simply be a manifestation of someone not thinking about the consequences of their actions. Sometimes people are simply oblivious to anyone that is not themselves. They don't stop to even consider the feelings of other individuals that they encounter. Sometimes the "evil" that people do is simply a manifestation of the sinful nature that we all possess and not an intentional evil meant to do harm.
Regardless of the intent, we are to respond without anger. We are to respond without vengeance. We are to respond without animosity and rage.
Did Jesus ever respond in anger when He was under attack?
He never raised His voice or responded in anger for any of the things that were hurled His way. He only reacted when God's House, the Temple, was being desecrated.
Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. "It is written," he said to them, "'My house will be called a house of prayer,' but you are making it 'a den of robbers.'"
(Matthew 21:12-13 (NIV))
Do you desire to have your heart broken by the things that break His heart?
If that is true, then you must start to react the way Jesus reacted. You must learn to "turn the other cheek."
How do you react?
Copyright 1998 - 2024 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
https://www.dailylivingministries.org
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