So..what did he mean by THAT?

I was just in an interesting situation. I’ve had hundreds of situations like it before and I’ll likely have hundreds again. I had the choice to wither stand up for my rights or submit to an unreasonable demand. Now, the demand was not unreasonable because it was hard to do, it was actually rather easy. It was unreasonable because of the way in which it was demanded (in harsh tones and anger) and the reasons for which it was demanded (false accusations made about certain people). And so I was faced with an interesting choice. Do I carry out the demand, even though it came from an angry person with an innapproriate attitude? Or do I stand up for my rights, rebuke the guy and teach him a lesson?

And then I thought about Jesus.

You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I(The sovereign God of the cosmos) say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who begs for you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.

Objector: Hold on there Matt! I see what you’re trying to say. But Jesus didn’t mean that we should be doormats!
Matt: So what did he mean? Why on earth would he say to not resist a man beating on you if he meant something different? Jesus meant to create a totally new, radical people group on earth. How can we be new and radical if we never do anything new or radical? So I was faced with this situation and Ruth and I made the choice. We looked at what Jesus and the rest of Scripture said and we decided to go two miles with the one who forced us to go one. You know what happened? I thought I’d hate it. I thought the bitterness in me would stay there for days, as it always had in the past. But it left. I agreed, I carried the task out the the best of my ability and I had peace. Did I make the right choice? I certainly think so.

And the next day I read something in Job that got me very excited.

If you lay your gold in the dust, and gold of Ophir among the stones of the torrent bed, then the Almighty will be your gold and your precious silver.

Objector: I don’t get it. What does that have to do with anything?
Matt: Putting all you eggs in one basket. With Christ it’s all or nothing, eh? There’s no middle ground. Either you live a radical, foolish-looking life or you disobey. God says to throw all your worldly thinking and wisdom into the bottom of a river. Why? Because once you depart from that deadly thinking the Almighty himself becomes your precious treasure. Once we unlearn all the crap our secular society, schools, jobs and churches teach us we will find a new freedom in Christ and he himself will be our treasure.

So I learned a lesson. Follow Christ radically and accurately and you will find that even though you are going against all the wisdom of the world you will have a peace that the world could never give and a treasure that the world could never compare with.