Matthew
5:40 And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak
as well.
Think of a tunic like your shirt, and cloak your jacket. Even
the poorest man would have a change of tunics, but often only one cloak – which was
a blanket-like clothing which a man wore as a robe by day, and used as a blanket at
night. As according to the OT, no one was allowed to take a man’s cloak as it
protected him from the cold (Exodus
22:26,27).This is great for us here – since Jakarta is so hot – if you want it,
take it! But then we miss the whole point of it.
Does this mean that we allow someone to take everything we
have? Leave the front door open, let everyone help themselves? No, the
principle is : don’t let your material things get in the way of our witness for
Christ – be willing to part with
what we have in excess, like our tunic -it isn't easy, but it is easier for us to give, what we have extra, those old clothes we don't need or outgrew. It may even be easy to give a couple hundred $$$ to support an orphanage. But Jesus calls for us not to only give what we have in excess,
but be prepared to part with even our
own security blanket – the only thing that keeps you warm at night - and this is where the rubber hits the road.
What's the modern equivalent of our cloak/security blanket? How about our savings for that rainy day, or our pension? Maybe even that college education fund you are
saving up? How about that overseas holiday we've been saving up for? Are you willing to give that up for the gospel? How far are willing to trust Jesus with what HE has entrusted to him? Are we willing to go the second mile?
Philippians
3:8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of
knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all
things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.
