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Welcome back to The Road2Wholeness Blog. You made it!
Thank you for taking the stroll with our Blog this day. Certainly, it's been two years since our last blog series. We're happy to be back in this great season of the Lord's wisdom and resurrection. In this Quick Blog Series, we're celebrating 7 Wisdom Building Scriptures.
We begin today with a bountiful word from Matthew 5:41. It reads, "If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles." The New Living Translation says, "If a soldier demands you carry his gear for a mile, carry it two miles.
What is the wisdom the Lord is pointing at here? Here's my first thoughts... The power of your love is not in meeting what is requested, but in superseding what is deserved. Always do two miles. When you walk away by such standard.. no slander, no mixed reviews or differences can reach or rearrange you.
So, how do you know when you've gone two miles? Well, first let's look again at the scripture. The first translation uses the word "forces", the second translation uses the word "soldier". In the first translation, the word "forces" means we're not talking about under great conditions, but suggests that we're dealing with a demand; a strain. In the New Living Translation where the word "soldier" is used, we can deduce that we are being challenged on our standards. We're particularly being asked to see something different than we would ordinarily see it. Naturally because we can question why a soldier wouldn't see it fair to carry his or her own gear? What then makes him or her a soldier? There's a natural thought that something unjust is being requested. Therefore these words have purposely been chosen to ensure that we denote the right feelings of intensity along the journey of going two miles. Without the right context, it's impossible to judge our respective two miles. This journey is not the equivalent of walking two miles, but closer to the equivalent of running two miles. Likewise, under such conditions, and even while harboring challenging questions about personal responsibility and the like, we're being told to do two miles. To put it plainly, we're being asked to double what feels fair.
The scripture also suggest that we do it energetically, and without groaning. How can that be discerned? Let's read it again. "If anyone should force you to go one mile, go with them two." In other words, go with them to the distance that is not under force or duress, but to the distance that is under grace and mercy. Go with them to a place in your being where you are not lethargic or being pulled apart in your assessment of the situation, but to a place where you have adjusted your parameters to include love, justice, and a standard of faithfulness.
Still, how do you know when you've gone two miles? In life and such matters, obviously, we don't have a one mile marker or a goal post to show us when we've gone the first mile, but think about this. When you've reached that place where you are ready to walk away; that place where you know that you're not being considered, thought of correctly, or even treated fairly; go another mile.
It's from that place that you become a law. Where you are not praised or seen as heroic, but where your seams become hidden and your righteousness creates a hedge of protection over and around you. You are then shaded by the wings of the Almighty, and led by the Cloud Pillar of the Lord's dominating governance and sovereignty. It is from this place that you will be Blessed and highly favored.
Thank you for joining The Road2Wholeness Blog on this Road 2 Resurrection.
We hope you'll join us for the next 6 blogs in this series.
Remember to go within, that you may never go without. Let it be that surely goodness and mercy shall follow you all the days of your life, and you shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever and forever.
In Service,
Natisha Renee Williams
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