Confrontation: July 12, 2011

JULY 12 2011. TODAYS WORD FOR TUESDAY JULY 12, 2011

CONFRONTATION

DEFINITION:

To stand or come in front of; to be in ones way; oppose; face to face; an open conflict of opposing ideas; to face in hostility.

SCRIPTURE:

“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.” Matthew 5:38-39

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

Far too often we are faced with situations that in our mind, invites confrontation. Before you confront someone for something said or done you need to carefully read what Jesus said about confrontation. It is our natural reaction to want to retaliate and confront the one that irritates us or speaks some untruth, but that is not what God wants from us as believers in Him.

We had a very good minister friend that had a large church in south Los Angeles some years ago. His name was Rev. E.V. Hill and he was known all across America. We can remember him telling us what he had said to his congregation the Sunday after there was a disturbance close to his church. He said, “Some people believe in an eye for an eye, but in this neighborhood it is two eyes for an eye.” He went on to preach that you can never even the score you can only raise the stakes.

It happens every day. On a school playground a student gets pushed. In a home a sibling bumps, possibly on purpose, another sibling as they pass each other. A driver in a car forces you out of your lane. All of these situations and many more often grow quickly into a fight. It is a process of retaliation, confrontation and escalation that results from an attitude of revenge. Revenge is the desire to even the score.

Most children get into fights because they feel they must even the score for some issue that they did not like. What parent hasn’t heard these words: “He (or she) started it.” When adults take actions of revenge they justify their response with the excuse of doing only what was done to them.

In Matthew 5 (above verse) Jesus tackles this key relational issue. He tells us to accept personal injury without retaliation. The person who slaps with his right hand, which most people do, has to strike with the back of his hand in order to slap the right cheek. In Jesus day hitting with the back of a hand was a way to insult or show disrespect rather than for the purpose of physically hurting or injuring. When you then turn the other cheek you send the message that you are following Christ’s example and returning good for evil. Before He was crucified Jesus was insulted, mocked, spit upon and beaten and yet He never retaliated.

By reacting in this manner the message you send is one of love and forgiveness. Someone once said that to return good for good is natural but to return good for evil is supernatural. When we are confronted with evil and treated badly we will only escalate the situation if we try to get even. Instead we must turn the matter over to God and allow Him to bring justice.

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in James 1:22.

But be doers of the Word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

PRAYER:

Lord, help me not to retaliate when someone wants to pick a fight by harassing me or insulting me. Instead give me the strength and faith to turn the other cheek and show Your love through me and then do what is right. May my response be a testimony of Your love to those that witness how I respond.