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| (Linda, on Weko Beach, Bridgman, Michigan) |
Saturday morning.
I'm reading from the Gospel of Matthew, to begin my day.
If someone attacks me, am I to attack them back? Should I respond to them as they have done unto me?
For followers of Jesus, the answer is clear. He said:
"Don’t repay an evil act with another evil act. But whoever insults you by slapping you on the right cheek, turn the other to him as well." (TPT)
So, obviously, when I pay back with an evil act, what I am doing is anti-Jesus. That's clear. I see what I am not to do. I am not to do unto others as they have done unto me.
But what should I do? That's clear, too. I am to do unto others as I would have them do unto me. I am to love them, from the heart.
Jesus said,
"Love your enemy, bless the one who curses you, do something wonderful for the one who hates you, and respond to the very ones who persecute you by praying for them. For that will reveal your identity as children of your heavenly Father." (TPT)
Here is the real Jesus, the a-cultural Jesus, the revolutionary Jesus, for His is a revolution of love.
His counsel, his strategy, is simple, and brilliant.
Simply brilliant.
Everything about me and around me would change if I, one of Jesus' followers, would do this, from my heart.
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