“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.”
The Jesus way forward is different, but it is actionable. If our Jesus way forward looks like violence and hate, we’ve missed it. If our Jesus way forward looks like nothing, we’ve missed it. If our Jesus way forward does not interrupt this world, we’ve missed it.
Jesus-shaped pacifism is still aggressive—it’s just differently aggressive. Jesus wants to welcome you into a whole new world of prophetic thinking. While others are trying to decide between violence and doing nothing, Jesus says, “What if we flipped the script on them? What if we found a way to hold up a mirror to show them what they’ve become? What if we took away their ability to consider us the bad guys anymore? What if our actions got us into people’s heads so intensely that they couldn’t shake us off? What if they couldn’t frame us like they used to?”
What if?
The world is arguing right now. Some want a Jesus who calls down legions of angels from Heaven to wipe out their enemies. Some want a Jesus who literally does nothing and maintains the status quo, thinking that’s what peace looks like. I encourage you to choose the Jesus that flips the script with mind-bending Spirit-given tactics grounded in love.
Jamin Bradley 
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