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Turning The Other Cheek

by Dewayne Rachels  
1/21/2013 / Devotionals

Recently Christians in America have been under attack even as close as my hometown. Our county was founded in 1819 and the founding fathers began every meeting with prayer. This tradition continues even today. A minority group (Freedom from Religion Foundation) felt that these prayers are a violation of their Constitutional rights and sued our county commission. During this time I heard many debates from professing Christians and professing Atheist stating their views on prayer in public. The sad part is that many of those professing Christians felt that we should discontinue prayer claiming that Jesus taught us to pray in private, and many added we shouldn't fight the lawsuit because we are to "turn the other cheek". In this article I will attempt to explain, with the help of the Holy Ghost, what Jesus meant when saying we should, "Turn the other cheek" in Mathew 5:39.

We all know, or should know, that the Bible never contradicts itself, ever. Jesus lived the perfect life here on Earth to be offered as the perfect sacrifice for our sins. During this time Jesus entered into the temple in Mathew 21:12 and observed people selling and buying within the temple. Did Jesus simply shake His head and leave the Temple? No, the Bible says He cast everyone out of the temple and flipped over the tables and seats of the moneychangers. Does this sound like someone that sit idly by and let God's word be tread down?

Mathew 5:39 "39 But I say unto you, that ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also." If you are troubled by the first part of this scripture let me assure you that Jesus is not telling us to allow evil in our lives. 'Resist' in the Webster Dictionary has two meanings:

1: to exert oneself so as to counteract or defeat "he resisted temptation"

2: to withstand the force or effect of "fireproof material resists heat (or the effects of the heat)"

If we use the first definition than Jesus would be telling us, using the example beside the definition, to resist not temptation and sin as we seem fit. I believe this would be a contradictory definition to the rest of the Bible. However, using the second definition we could see that Jesus is telling us to not allow evil to affect our testimonies. The transliteration of the word 'evil' in Greek is 'poneros' which can be defined as annoyances. A slap in the face is, and always was, a show of embarrassment. However, someone slapping you on the face whether figuratively or metaphorically is a passed action that is not harmful to your health nor is it critical to survival. To respond to someone shaming you in public without allowing pride to influence your actions are nearly impossible. Jesus tells us the best way to overcome our pride in this situation, and notice this, He doesn't tell us to flee or give in. He tells us to stand our ground and turn to them the other cheek. Let them insult us again! The only thing they are attacking is our pride. We should continue to stand our ground with God's Word and remember victory is ours saith the Lord but vengeance is His.

Dewayne J Rachels (DJ) www.labourersministry.org

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