Jesus said, \u2018If someone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other cheek also.\u2019<\/i> In Jesus\u2019 day, society was built around shame and honour. The left hand was considered unclean; it was not to be used for eating\u2014or for hitting. So a blow to the right cheek would be done with the backhand. It was a way to publicly insult someone. A backhanded slap was something done only to a social inferior, such as a slave or a child. So when someone insults you, what should you do? Everyone expects one of two responses: retaliation or cowering. <\/p>\n
Jesus is saying, \u2018Your safety and your honour are in the hands of your heavenly Father.\u2019 So now we get creative. One possibility is that we could turn the other cheek. Our enemy can\u2019t backhand our left cheek. Either he has to fight you as an equal, which he doesn\u2019t want to do, or he has to find a nonviolent way to resolve the conflict. <\/p>\n
So, who do you get insulted by? \u2018Slaps\u2019 often take the form of barbs, digs, and \u2018backhanded\u2019 comments. Someone demeans your idea at work. Someone accuses you falsely at home. A relative says something judgmental about you. What is your first instinct\u2014retaliation, fear, or both? With the Holy Spirit helping you, there\u2019s a new possibility. Don\u2019t run and hide. Don\u2019t strike back. Confront the other person with honesty and strength. Be creative, patient, and active. Lovingly work towards reconciliation. It is the reason the Bible calls the Christian life a \u2018high calling\u2019.<\/i> (Philippians 3:14 KJV) <\/p>\n
So, the next time someone upsets you, \u2018Take the high road!\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Jesus said, \u2018If someone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other cheek also.\u2019 In Jesus\u2019 day, society was built around shame and honour. The left hand was considered unclean; it was not to be used for eating\u2014or for hitting. So a blow to the right cheek would be done with the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ucbmedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1328"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ucbmedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ucbmedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ucbmedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ucbmedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1328"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ucbmedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1328\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ucbmedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ucbmedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ucbmedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}