Turning the Other Cheek

 

But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil, but who so ever shall smite thee on thy right cheek turn to him the other also {Matthew 5:39}: As I read this verse of scripture I saw it in a completely different light than ever before.This verse shows us the humiliation of being a Christian. This does not mean that we are to be a punching bag for anyone who wants to push us around.That word also means being humble. Later on in Jesus' ministry When He was struck in the garden, before His crucifixion, He did not turn the other cheek, but He rebuked the one who hit him. He could have called a legion of angels, but He did not.That is so hard for many a Christian to understand and for some it is their down fall. What Jesus taught on the mount, that day, was not a sermon on doing your duty, even though we must, but it was a message of doing what is not our duty. Jesus said if we are His disciples we will always do these things. What things? We are to go that second mile and we are to turn that other cheek. In other words we are not to return evil for evil.

 I have decided that I will never look for the right in other people anymore because most of the time if they are not a Christian it is not there and in some so called Christians it is not there also. This one thing we know: "By their fruits ye shall know them" We are never to look for justice because most of the time justice is never there, but we are to never cease to live it to the best of our ability. We live in a evil world and we as Christians must never forget that. The world hates the true born again Christian and always will.

 Only Jesus can give us the kind of love that lets us forgive and the closer we are to Him the more of that love we will have. I have had people to tell the most vicious lies on me, steal from me, use me for their advantage and do me harm if they could but, of a truth my friend, I would give them the last bit of money that I have, feed them, give them a warm place to sleep and above all pray for their salvation. All that because the love of my Savior abides in my heart. These might be hard words for some but it is the truth. That is God's way and it is the only way!