"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.” Matthew 5:38-39
Some of the things Jesus said are beyond shocking. His words are from another reality.
If we hear Jesus’ words and obey them then we truly have begun to believe Jesus is God’s Son with all authority.
I have wrestled with the words of Matthew 5:38-39 for over 44 years. I guess that says something about just how far I still have to go with giving up on this world and its views on reality. By God’s grace I am learning to live these words, but I have only recently begun to truly see them more clearly after 60 years of observing the contrast between resisting and releasing among humans.
Here is what I have seen. The Universe never works for those who resist others. It cannot. The Universe is designed to work for those who release love not resist people. Why has this been so hard for me to see and accept?
I have not seen it because I lacked complete faith in Jesus’ words and I have not spent enough time observing the beautiful and powerful things of God around me that release but do not resist.
Flowers do not resist, they release what they are and they are beautiful.
Birds do not resist, they release what they are and they are beautiful.
Salt does not resist, it releases what it is. It is beautiful, pleasing and preserving.
The ocean does not resist, it releases what it is and it is beautiful, powerful and irresistible..
The sun does not resist, it releases what it is and it is beautiful, powerful and irresistible.
Rain does not resist, it releases what is beautiful. refreshing and it, too, is irresistible.
Who can resist these things and win?
Jesus did not resist, He released what He is and He the beginning and the end of all beauty and all reality. Who can resist Jesus and win? Didn’t He settle that once and for all at Calvary?
When I resist an evil person, I stop being what I was made to be--a person made in the image of God. I stop being the part of creation that is supposed to release love like God does. When I resist an evil person I stop being human because my enemy stopped being human in order to attack me. To stop loving is to stop being human. Try to picture Jesus not loving and you will get the irresistible picture.
Resistance will never win in this universe because God does not resist and He is irresistible. God does not need to resist. He is the great I AM who is the source of source. All that is good He releases. Nothing and no one can stop that.
The evil person who attacks another human being is swimming out into an ocean that will not resist him but it will swallow him in all that it is and all that it releases. The evil person will perish the more he resists and the farther he swims away from the shore of who he was created to be.
When an evil person attacks you, don’t follow the evil person into the ocean. Turn your cheek, walk the extra mile and follow love which will make you more and more like Jesus.
To be irresistible don’t resist. Just be you as God designed you to be.
When you release love you will find the universe cooperates with you because the Creator designed it to cooperate with love not hate.
Bud McCord
Abide International
No comments:
Post a Comment