"But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you,
Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.
And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloak forbid not to take thy coat also.
Give to every man that asketh of thee; and of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again.
And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise."
Luke 6:27-31
Sometimes when we read some of these hard things that God asks us to do we wonder if God just wants us to be doormats... letting people walk all over us, hurting us or harming us, and never fighting back. And I think that the interesting thing here is that the answer is both yes and no, because again, we're asking the wrong questions.
God wants us to be the light of the world. He wants us to be the salt of the earth, "but if the salt have lost his savour . . . it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men" (Matthew 5:13). I think that tells us clearly that God *doesn't* want us to be doormats. However, does he want us to allow people to hurt us sometimes, and to not fight back? Yes. Not in a way where we should remain in an abusive situation, or allow others to be harmed, but in a way where we don't return hate for hate, "evil for evil, or railing for railing" (1 Peter 3:9). He asks us to endure it, and to forgive it, and to move on in love rather than anger.
The idea here is not to be doormats, but to stop the cycle of hate, to return good for evil--to make a better world rather than just repeating the same mistakes and problems over and over and over again. Today, let's try to bring some light into a dark world. Let's learn to take the bad we are given and turn it to good. Let's be humble, and teachable, and good down to our cores. Let's treat others as we wish to be treated, by others and by God, who we definitely need some mercy from. :)
Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.
And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloak forbid not to take thy coat also.
Give to every man that asketh of thee; and of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again.
And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise."
Luke 6:27-31
God wants us to be the light of the world. He wants us to be the salt of the earth, "but if the salt have lost his savour . . . it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men" (Matthew 5:13). I think that tells us clearly that God *doesn't* want us to be doormats. However, does he want us to allow people to hurt us sometimes, and to not fight back? Yes. Not in a way where we should remain in an abusive situation, or allow others to be harmed, but in a way where we don't return hate for hate, "evil for evil, or railing for railing" (1 Peter 3:9). He asks us to endure it, and to forgive it, and to move on in love rather than anger.
The idea here is not to be doormats, but to stop the cycle of hate, to return good for evil--to make a better world rather than just repeating the same mistakes and problems over and over and over again. Today, let's try to bring some light into a dark world. Let's learn to take the bad we are given and turn it to good. Let's be humble, and teachable, and good down to our cores. Let's treat others as we wish to be treated, by others and by God, who we definitely need some mercy from. :)
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