Read : Matthew 5: 38-42
“... If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn him the other also.”
- Matthew: 5: 39
In Jesus’ days, a slap on one’s face was considered a gross insult by the Jews and was one of the most demeaning and contemptuous acts. A slap on ones face was not intended to cause physical harm, but was intended as a terrible indignity, in which one human being created in the image of God is treating another human being as even less than a human! Jesus specifically mentions “the right cheek,” which tells us He is describing the slap from the back of the hand. According to rabbinic law, to hit someone with the back of the hand was twice insulting as hitting him with the front of the hand. Even a slave would rather receive a rod or a whip across the back than a slap on his right cheek from the master.
In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, “Turn the other cheek to the person who has slapped. Refuse to avenge the gross insult; Refuse to retaliate; show yourselves to be my true disciples by the way in which you bear the insult.” How can one do this naturally? Certainly it would not be a natural response, but it is a supernatural one representing the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. While the Holy Spirit will give us the desire and the power, we must make a conscious, deliberate choice not to respond back in flesh.
Dear friends, let us remember that meekness is not weakness, but power under control. When we are “slapped,” we have a valid reason to respond, but when we are controlled by the Holy Spirit we would choose not to respond - this shows that we have fully surrendered our personal rights to the Lord.
PRAYER: Dear Lord, help me not to retaliate when someone “slaps me,” or picks a fight. Instead, give me the strength to show Your love. Let me seek peace and reconciliation. Let me choose to respond with kindness and forgiveness imitating the character of Christ. Amen. Honey Drops || Daily Devotion
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