The message Jesus delivers in this verse reveals the humiliation of being a Christian. When cowards don\u2019t hit back, it\u2019s because of fear; when Christians don\u2019t hit back, it\u2019s because they are manifesting the life of the Son of God. There is a vast difference between the two responses, yet in the eyes of the world they are the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Am I willing to be thought a coward for my Lord\u2019s sake? The teaching of the Sermon on the Mount isn\u2019t \u201cDo your duty.\u201d It\u2019s \u201cDo what isn\u2019t your duty.\u201d It isn\u2019t<\/em> my duty to go the second mile or to turn the other cheek. Yet Jesus says that if I am his disciple, I will always do these things. When I am insulted, not only must I \u043d\u0435<\/em> resent it, but I must use it as an opportunity for exhibiting the disposition of the Son of God. I cannot imitate the disposition of Jesus; either it\u2019s inside me or it isn\u2019t. If it is, every personal insult will become an occasion for revealing his incredible sweetness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When I find myself being offended and saying things like, \u201cOh well, I can\u2019t do anything more. I\u2019ve been so misrepresented and misunderstood,\u201d I hurt the Son of God. I\u2019m insisting upon my own rights. But when I take the blow myself, I prevent Jesus from being hurt. This is what Paul means when he says, \u201cI fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ\u2019s afflictions\u201d (Colossians 1:24). As a disciple, I must realize that it is my Lord\u2019s honor which is at stake in my life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We are always looking for justice for ourselves. The teaching of the Sermon on the Mount is this: Never look for justice, but never cease to give it. The only right Christians have is the right not to insist upon their rights.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The message Jesus delivers in this verse reveals the humiliation of being a Christian. When cowards don\u2019t hit back, it\u2019s because of fear; when Christians don\u2019t hit back, it\u2019s because they are …<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":2128,"template":"","collection":[],"class_list":["post-2627","modern-classic","type-modern-classic","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/utmost.org\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/modern-classic\/2627","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/utmost.org\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/modern-classic"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/utmost.org\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/modern-classic"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/utmost.org\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/modern-classic\/2627\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utmost.org\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/utmost.org\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"collection","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utmost.org\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/collection?post=2627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}