SATURDAY, AUGUST 11
Scripture: Matthew 5:38,39

Matthew 5:38,39 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.” Recently I was headed to the airport for a ministry trip and I had a vision. I was taken back to the farm where I grew up and watched a veterinarian de-horn and castrate the bull calves. I watched as these animals were castrated and witnessed them lose every bit of aggression as a result. When this occurred, there was a complete personality change in the animal. Their motivation for exercise was replaced by appetite and all they did was eat and get fat for slaughter. We were told even the flavor of their meat changes and the animals get a name-change. After castration a boar becomes a barrow, a stallion becomes a gelding and a bull-calf becomes a steer. Castration has a dramatic impact on animals and the Lord said to me, “My church looks to me like a castrated calf and I’ll show you the scalpel that was used in the operation.” That scalpel was Matthew 5:38,39, “But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.” When we take Scripture out of context and use it for the wrong purpose, it can have a devastating impact. This passage has been used to define God’s love and yet that definition by itself equals utter and total passivity in the face of evil. The problem is, if we accept Matthew 5:38,39 as the total definition of God’s love, we make Jesus a sinner because He did not always adhere to this standard of God’s love. That is always how religion works. The Lord is trying to give spiritual manhood back to the church. The question is, are we willing to take it?