What is Jesus’ turn the other cheek meaning?
First, let’s look at how Jesus teaches in a specific pattern throughout the Sermon on the Mount.
In today’s devotional verses, Jesus says:
In the Church, leaders are more than people with microphones on the stage. They are spiritual parents.
For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. I urge you, then, be imitators of me.
Paul is writing to people who were pretty full of themselves.
The Corinthian church was packed with people Paul describes as puffed up and arrogant (1 Cor 4:18). And the fruit of their lives and ministry showcased this.
They were sharply divided, steeped in sexual sin, and greedy—just to name a few issues.
Paul wrote to correct sin in their lives because he, like a good father, wanted them to be in right relationship with God and one another.
Today, we desperately need more spiritual fathers and leaders in the church. And I don’t mean simply that we need more older Christians discipling younger ones. That is certainly good—but this has nothing to do with age.
Instead, it’s about maturity in three primary areas.
Blessed is the man
who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
but his delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law he meditates day and night.Psalm 1:1–2 ESV
Have you ever spent seasons where getting into the Bible felt more like drudgery than delight?
Where you felt guilty, because you knew you should be studying God’s word every day, but you simply never felt like doing it?
If so, you’re not alone. Hundreds of our readers recently participated in a survey for us (thank you!). And about 16 percent said that their biggest struggle in their devotional life was a lack of desire to “read the Bible and pray.”
This certainly isn’t something to feel guilty about. Instead, it’s a reality a lot of us face. But what if it could be different?
Imagine this…