Weekly Devotional - Turn the Other Cheek

'Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.'

1 Peter 3:9

So much of our live is based around action and reaction, need and reward. We go to work to earn a paycheck. We need that paycheck to have money to live on. We talk with a friend and ask for a favour. Our friend grants the favour, and we know we now owe them one. It's a kind of reciprocal cycle in which the natural give-and-take of life becomes the predominant law of survival.

The same principle seems to apply when we suffer injury, insult, or indiscretion. Our coworker snubs us so we snub them back. Our spouse picks an argument, so we defend ourselves and pick on them. Our friend is found to be the source of a cruel rumour about us, so we carefully plant a seed of juicy gossip about them. We retaliate and assume this is how we survive.

But this is not God's way. Through his Word and the example of his Son, We're reminded that grace is irrational, illogical, and unwarranted. Grace breaks the this-for-that, tit-for-tat cycle by which much of the world operates. Today, turn the other cheek and bless someone who insults you.

'But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also.'

Matthew 5:39