Choices made follow us – this underscores the inherent responsibility embedded in the power of choice that God endowed us with; a capacity intrinsically linked to the concept of free will. The two function in concert, establishing a framework of agency and accountability that is central to the lasting influence on our life’s trajectory.
Our choices are not merely transient events, but rather existential commitments that accrue to our being, casting long shadows upon the path ahead. They possess distinctive, formative power: the capacity to recalibrate our internal compass – that innate framework of values, desires, and moral intuitions that guides our navigation through our sojourn on planet 🌏.
This profound agency is itself a fundamental aspect of the Divine-human covenant. In God’s sovereign act, the conferral of free will was inextricably joined with the awesome power of choice, entrusting to us grave, weighty and glorious responsibility of shaping our own character and, ultimately, our destiny; because we are free, we are also inherently responsible.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16
“The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death.” Proverbs 14:27
“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 6:23
Thus, each decision, however seemingly insignificant, carries an existential weight, for it is through the cumulative exercise of this God-given faculty that the self is continually “made and remade”.
“that ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.”
Ephesians 4:22-24
“Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof. ” Proverbs 18:21
Recently I was asked and at the same time, informed by a younger sister of a good friend, that it is hard for her to consider God because of a difficult issued that she is facing and the injunction of Jesus who said “But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.”
There are two places in the Bible where Jesus tells us to turn the other cheek. The first occurrence is in Matthew 5:38-39 “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.” The second is found in Luke 6:29a “To him who strikes you on the one cheek, offer the other also.”
What do these verses mean, both for Jesus’ audience in His days, and for us, in the world today?
At first glance, Matthew 5:39 can be perplexing. Does this Scripture verse teach that no matter what someone does to us, we are to look the other way, or suggesting that Jesus wants His followers to be doormats, allowing others to beat them up? Is this a call to compliant and weak surrender to aggressors? (Bearing in mind too that God says in Psalm 94: 15-16: “But judgment will return to righteousness, And all the upright in heart will follow it. Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? Who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity?” We should let Scripture interprets Scripture as there is harmony in God’s Word.) Christians to be pushovers Pacifism? This is not the meaning Jesus put forward in His sermon.
When Jesus told the people they should turn the other cheek, He was preaching at the well-known Sermon on the Mount, referred to as the Beatitudes; a declaration of blessedness. It is a call to moral living for all that hear Him. Many people and some Christians alike get it incorrect about this Verse? Most give Jesus’ words a literal translation and interpretation and that is where one missed the point Jesus was trying to render or make.
Jesus is not telling us to let people do whatever they please to us. He is not saying we are to stand by and do nothing when ourselves or others are being hurt. We are called to respond when we or others are hurting – especially standing up for others that are hurting. “Retaliation” but not revenge, is needed at times. Christians can question those who wrong them. We should practice self-protection without a desire for personal revenge. Romans 12:19 “Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.”
If Matthew 5:38-48 were taken literally at all times, we would have to let everyone take advantage of us. Turning the other cheek would become an encouragement for evil. This isn’t what Jesus had in mind or to convey. His dramatic examples, illustrate to His disciples the need to give up any sense of entitlement or motivation to personal vengeance. By asking them to turn the other cheek, Jesus meant that His disciples should be motivated by love and a desire for the redemption and forgiveness of offenders—even when opposing their actions. This verse is not saying that we are to let people do whatever they want to us. Rather, it is saying that God will handle it.
After all, Jesus censured the Pharisees who attacked Him in Matthew 23. In John 18:22-23, Jesus objected when He was struck in the face by an official of the high priest. His response was to question why he was struck in the face. He asked the official to tell him what he said that was an untruth. Further, He advised His disciples to take measures to defend themselves, videlicet, Matthew 10:16 “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.” What Jesus asks of His followers is not passivity, but surrender of the right to personal revenge.
Looking back into the Old Testament, we see David sparing Saul’s life again and again. 1 Samuel 26:9-11 tells us that David left the punishment of Saul to the Lord.
What this verse tells us is that we are not to get revenge and let God do with them what He will. God has the sole power to punish people who sin.
This verse is not addressing what Christians should do when we are wronged. It is addressing the act of revenge that our sinful nature will want. Christians are to stand up for what we believe in. We are not to plan an act of revenge. Do not say, “I will recompense evil”; Wait for the Lord, and He will save you. Proverbs 20:22 says “Do not say, I’ll pay you back for this wrong! Wait for the Lord, and he will deliver you.”
In Genesis 37 we read the account of Joseph who was sold into slavery by his own brothers. They were extremely jealous of him and wanted him gone. Joseph spent many years in Egypt where he was enslaved and imprisoned, but he also experienced God’s protection, grace and great favour. When a famine hit the land, when Joseph was Second-in-Command (after Pharaoh) of all Egypt, he was reunited with his brothers. He could have had them imprisoned or killed, but his response was neither. Genesis 50:19-21 “Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God? But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive. Now therefore, do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones.” And he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.”
In 1 and 2 Samuel, we read the account of David as he experiences the wrath of Saul. David’s life was in danger and he could have killed Saul, but he chose not to. The experiences of Joseph and David tell us that there is a time to fight and there is a time to turn the other cheek.
We must be careful that when we confront evil, so that we do not harbour a desire for personal vengeance. When we are wronged, we are to use the word of God to retaliate – we are to confront, correct and rebuke evil with His word. We “do not retaliate against violence with violence” against the one who is evil.”
Jesus did not say we were to stand aside and do nothing. The Bible gives us a good example of how we should act when we are wronged. Paul is before the Sanhedrin explaining his duty to God when the high priest Ananias strikes him on the mouth. Paul’s response was to inform Ananias that God would strike him. (Notice, he didn’t literally turn his other cheek to be slapped again). Acts 23:1-3: Then Paul, looking earnestly at the council, said, “Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day.” And the high priest Ananias commanded those who stood by him to strike him on the mouth. Then Paul said to him, “God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! For you sit to judge me according to the law, and do you command me to be struck contrary to the law?”
In the ancient Jewish culture, the right hand was clean, while the left was reserved for unclean tasks. If someone struck your cheek, they would have used their right hand to do so. And Jesus specifies that, in this case, someone is striking your right cheek. It’s a backhanded slap — an insult. It’s the sort of slap you give when you’re not expecting anyone to resist.
But what Jesus teaches here is a radical kind of resistance. We need to look at Jesus’ actual words. “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,’” he says. “But I say to you, Do not resist an evil-doer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also.” (Matthew 5:38-41). Thus, turning one’s left cheek is an act of defiance. To backhand them again would require the left hand, an unspoken admission of the uncleanliness of one’s actions. Turning the left cheek, in this context, is to do far, far more than roll over and accept injustice. It’s to defy the violence of the world, but to do so from a place of active resistance, responding with humility and courage in the fear of God.
The Old Testament law placed limitations on vengeance (Exodus 21:23-25). Although, the “eye for an eye” provision of the Mosaic law has often been misunderstood as requiring vengeance, its actual purpose was to place limitations on it. The law prescribed that punishment must fit the crime. The law wouldn’t permit taking a life in revenge for an insult or a minor injury. If an eye were put out, only an eye could be taken; if a tooth, only a tooth.
Jesus went much further than the law, making it clear that He wasn’t merely calling for more limitations on vengeance. In Matthew 5:38-48, He implied that we must give up personal vengeance altogether. But as illustrated above in the Bible, there is a difference between confronting evil and seeking personal revenge. In other words, it’s true that Jesus’ call is a call to nonviolence. But it is not a call to passivity. Instead, Jesus was telling his followers to stand against the way of violence not with violence, but with a different kind of power. We can see it in the life Jesus modelled, all the way to the cross and beyond.
Pic courtesy: pilot Lloyd J Ferraro (taken from 30k feet)
“Whoever sheds man’s blood, By man his blood shall be shed; For in the image of God He made man. 7 And as for you, be fruitful and multiply; Bring forth abundantly in the earth And multiply in it.”
8 Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying: 9 “And as for Me, behold, I establish My covenant with you and with your [a]descendants after you, 10 and with every living creature that is with you: the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you, of all that go out of the ark, every beast of the earth. 11 Thus I establish My covenant with you: Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood; never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.”
12 And God said: “This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: 13 I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. 14 It shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud; 15 and I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16 The rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will look on it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” 17 And God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth.” Gen 9:6-17
When we look at the mountains, waterfalls, skies above, and all of creation, we can see the unmistakable evidence of God’s power and glory.
God alone created the heavens and earth so that all living things would rejoice in His effulgence and refulgence of creation.
But many of us almost never take time to give attention, to pause and marvel at the immeasurably expansiveness and loveliness of His creation.
“O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens.” Psalm 8:1
“And blessed be his glorious name for ever: and let the whole earth be filled with his glory; Amen, and Amen.” Psalm 72:19
“The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge” Psalm 19:1-2
Our thoughts world is in reality is a life-building process. It affects our actions and impact others too.
The choices and actions flow from the thoughts and the quality of the choices is directly related on our thoughts world.
We build our life through thoughts, leading to deeds and actions. This lifetime of thoughts and actions form us – and this is ultimately our choice that God gave to us.
““See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil,”
Deuteronomy 30:15
From a small seed, a mighty tree emerged. A seed is sown and planted into the ground; with time it grows into a large tree, then the flowers bloom and it’s fruit ripen in due season. Change is a continuous process in our lives – may we with God’s help, continue to progress and soar; with changes that come our way.
Getting wisdom involves the will, affection for it and the intellect – the endeavour to use all available means to seek and find wisdom and prudence. In the process of the striving to obtain wisdom, reaching a higher faculty of reasoning and feelings; a person shows he has regard for the welfare of his soul, spirit and body.
We must remember the keeping of understanding shall find good, shall have great benefits for the conduct in this life. We are to guard it like precious treasure and it will bring us innumerable benefits.
He that is upright in judgment finds favour with God.
