“And whosoever shall compel you to go a mile, go with him two.”
Wherever the Romans ruled, they had certain expectations of their captives. One of these was that if a Roman soldier told a man to carry his heavy military equipment a mile, he had to do it. The rule was that the man only had to carry the equipment a mile and no more. Jewish men listening to this would probably not be happy to hear it. I read that some Jewish men had mileage markers placed along the road from their houses and they would only carry the equipment from one marker to the next. Jesus told them to do more than was expected of them. In verse 39 of Matthew 5, Jesus told the men that if someone struck them on the right cheek to turn the other also. Man, you talk about tough demands. It was the same message to go beyond what is expected. To go beyond what is expected, we must have our egos under control. Pleasing the Lord must be more important than what we think should be expected of us. When we apply this rule to our lives, it will cause us to be more effective servants of Jesus. It will make us more Christ like, since He certainly went the extra mile and turned the other cheek for us. In order to go the extra mile we have to be very secure in our faith in Jesus, and secure within ourselves. If we will do this, it will make a difference in our lives. How? First, it will mean that we are being obedient to Jesus’ hardest demands on our lives. It is easy to obey Jesus if it doesn’t mean that we have to sacrifice any of ourselves or our time. If we go beyond what is expected, we will serve on a deeper level than the normal service. Jesus has no problem asking us to go beyond what is expected of us. He knows that it will be hard on our egos and on our sense of “self,” but His purpose is to help us realize that everything is not about us. He wants us to realize that it is important for us to take people seriously and serve them in the love of Jesus. Second, it will make us more effective witnesses of Jesus Christ. All Christians have been called to be witnesses for Jesus, and urge people to enter the kingdom of God by faith in Him. Going beyond what is expected of us will make an impression on people about the seriousness of our Christian faith. It will help people to know that we really love and care about them. We are more attractive witnesses when we do the things that Jesus Himself would have done, and going beyond what was expected was a way of life with Him. The Bible tells us that when Jesus was tired and would have preferred to take a little time for Himself, people would come to Him with their needs and He would take the time to meet their needs. Early Christians went beyond what was expected of them when they continued to serve Jesus, even though they knew they would be persecuted. That kind of dedication is contagious. Christians today in many countries go beyond what is expected of them by serving Jesus in spite of threats of persecution, which in some places can mean death. Surely, this should compel us to go beyond what is expected in our safe environment. Third, this kind of service will make us feel better about ourselves. I know that this is not the major reason to go beyond what is expected, but it doesn’t hurt for us to feel good about what we are doing. When we are selfish, self-serving and mean-spirited, Christ in us makes it impossible for us to be satisfied with this lifestyle. There is something very satisfying about knowing that we are obeying Jesus, and that we love people and that we are ministering to them as Jesus would have done. It is good to know that no soldier is going to come along and demand that we carry his equipment a mile, but we will be confronted with situations in daily life that will make the same demand. Let’s do it. Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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