Christian Reactions

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                            Bible Verses

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.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Words of Ministry~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[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.