We are all born with a real sense of justice. We are all naturally inclined to retaliation and revenge. We don't have to be trained in it...we naturally attack. We have a refusal to tolerate injustice...
the problem becomes that retaliation rarely brings about peace, since we all have a different sense of "justice"....just continues to build and hurt. Reconstruction is always harder than you think its going to be, it takes longer than expected and the tools you will need end up being the tools you don't have.
matthew 5:38
"an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth." justice. seems fair and straight. but what Jesus is after is the transformation of our inward motivations. "do not resist the one who is evil, but if anyone slaps you on the right check, give them your other...if someone sues you for your inward garments, give them your outer garments too...if anyone who forces you to go one mile, go two miles..." contrary to our gut. Jesus changes our way of living and our filter in seeing the world around us. The more the world revolves around YOU, the more anxious, fearful and miserable YOU will become. If you are the point of it all, you will need everyone to be perfect and heap on expectations that are not good for them but good for YOU. The more you get freed from that the happiness can seep in. Christ is deconstructing our personal self interest being our focus.
5:43 "love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you... He lets the sun rise on the good and the evil...if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than another" There is nothing natural or easy about loving your enemy. NATURAL is loving who loves us and hating who hates us. proverbs "a kind word is like heaping burning coals on ones head" ...how do people respond with heaping coals? agitation? anger? boldness to attack all the more? When you are kind to your enemies...it will press on deep seeded soul issues...and it may come out in rage. But the opportunity for reconciliation and peace is there IF YOU LOVE. None of that reward will exist if your plan is retaliation & revenge...you will simply escalate it. Christ is interested in our motive and our motive being how we see the first part of the text. Sometimes the most loving thing I can do if someone slaps my check is NOT allow them to slap my other cheek, to not give them my tunic, to refuse to walk a mile with them. EXAMPLE: "sick child vomiting wants cake...is love giving her cake and milk or saying no, i'm not giving you that." Our motive being love are the lenses in which we see the world. How do you work thru this? motivated by love, we are to decide in the moment how to respond to our enemies. Like seeing thru mud. Is my motive self preservation, pride of self or is it genuinely love?
WALK IN WISDOM.
Don't be "biblically ignorant"..must be able apply the truths of the scriptures not just spit them out. Are you able to drain from your food the nutrients in your food if you've very quickly vomited it up and not digested it? Thats bulimia and people DIE from that disorder. Knowing verses does not mean you know your bible. We have to be able to digest and apply. If you LACK wisdom from the Word of God and aren't walking in community with others...this is nearly impossible. You will most always pick what's best for you, not what's good for the needs of others. Community, truth tellers in your life...not people you have "on your side" difference between people who value your friendship over valuing your soul. All of this feels impossible.
How do we grow in love in such a way that we have the capacity to love our enemies
1. Grow in our understanding of being children of God.
God has forgiven you. God delights in you. God is passionate about you. God feels things concerning you. God loves you. But if we don't understand God as Father, then we will doubt situations and scenarios, then we won't trust him to be our Father. Matthew 6:31-32
2. We have to live with eternity in mind.
Romans 8:19 "for i consider the sufferings at this time do not compare to the glory in store" 2 corinthians 4:16-18 "so we do not lose heart...as we look not to the things that are seen but the things that are unseen" regardless of the difficulties we are in right now, they will seem light and momentary to what is coming to us as God's children. Cancer. Death. Pain. Hurt. these things do NOT SEEM MOMENTARY until we get our eyes on what's eternal. Get our eyes on what is unseen, not on what is seen. Things seen are going to go away. What can men take from you if this is how you see?
3. Greater understanding of what we've been save from, how we've been saved and for the reality if it were not for the grace of God we would be the givers of injustice and not just the receivers of injustice.
eph 2:1-3 "As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time,gratifying the cravings of our flesh[a] and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." there is no difference from a silent rebellious person and a vocal rebellious person. It is by the grace of God alone that we have been saved. until we acknowledge that we are the chief among sinners, we are unable to extend grace because we don't believe that we received a lot of grace.
how are we responding to those who are actively against us? don't ever be surprised when lost people act lost. don't ever be surprised when immature believers act immature. this is God rebuilding the walls...so that when my cheek gets slapped I don't attack, but responding with a heart motivated by love...knowing that I am a child of God and knowing that grace as I remember the grace given to me.
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