"But I say, do not resist an evil person! If someone slaps you on the
right cheek, offer the other cheek also. If you are sued in court and
your shirt is taken from you, give your coat, too." (Matthew 5:39, 40
NLT)
More than we'd like we are faced with situations where someone may have
taken advantage of us. These types of situations can happen between
friends, relatives, associates, or strangers. When we get the short end
of the stick or the bad end of the bargain - or we are mistreated - it
is easy to want to retaliate. But this isn't the way Jesus wanted us to
respond. He wanted us to "be the bigger person."
It's amazing to me how these types of situations happen with people you
think should know better. But, these are the very situations we can get
"caught up in the web of" if we aren't careful. The way to successfully
let them go is to be the bigger person and turn the other cheek.
Suppose someone said they were going to give you a car, and turned
around and gave it to someone else. That would probably make you pretty
upset, right? But, according to this verse the 'big' thing to do is to
buy that person something or do something nice for them, just because.
"What?!" You might say. "That person just ripped them off!"
But, think about what it means to be the bigger person. If an injustice
was done to me, it's not about me- its about the other person. So, make
it about them. The Bible says that when we bless someone who curses us
we 'heap burning coals upon their head', meaning- there's no way to
escape conviction. (Prov 25:21&22)
Is there any situation you are facing now where you may need to "be the
bigger person"? Why not bless the person, and give it to God. Life is
too short to hang onto things that steal our joy. Be the bigger person
and let it go.
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