WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8
Scripture: Matthew 5:38,39

Matthew 5:38,39, supplies a definition of God’s love we have all come to understand. It says, “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. Are we really called not to resist an evil person? According to Jesus in this passage, we are but what is the context? Matthew 5:38,39 has a context that determines its meaning. The problem is, the dishonest isogetes among us have made Matthew 5:38,39 the total and complete definition of the love of God. The gospel of John chapter 2 tells us there is another manifestation of love that does not turn the other cheek. In John 2:13-17 we are told, “Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business. When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers’ money and overturned the tables. And He said to those who sold doves, ‘Take these things away! Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise!’ Then His disciples remembered that it was written, ‘Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up.’” Jesus loved His house. He saw it being destroyed by a spirit of mammon and through love for the house confronted and cleaned out the evil. Now, will we be an honest exegete and say “The love of God has both a Priestly and a Kingly manifestation” Or will we be a dishonest isogete and say, “The love of God means you ‘turn-the-other-cheek’ and forgive everything”? God’s love has five layers with corresponding manifestations. Will we accept them all or limit ourselves to tradition. Tradition blinds the mind so we cannot see. If we do not see, we will not do because it destroys the ability to walk in the full truth of God’s Word. The Kingly anointing has been diminished, while the Priestly anointing has grown to dominate. And in this case, tradition makes us a dishonest isogete. It is time we wake up, grow up and shape up.