by Bill Rudge
I warned a young man I knew to stop his violent behavior and to quit hanging out in places where violence was likely to erupt. He failed to heed that advice and was soon charged with involuntary manslaughter.
Much later, I saw him following his release from prison.Before we parted, I advised him to stop hanging out at bars and to control his temper before another tragedy happened. But a few months later, at the age of 27, while drinking late at night in a bar, he became involved in an argument and punched a man in the face. The man pulled out a gun and fired several shots, striking him in the torso as he ran outside into the parking lot. He was pronounced dead an hour later at the hospital. He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit, than he who captures a city (Proverbs 16:32).
You can go out and conquer a city—even conquer the world—but if you cannot tame your spirit, you have not developed the strength that God wants you to have! Controlling your own spirit, temper, desires, thoughts and behavior is better than achieving great accomplishments.
I have known those capable of doing phenomenal—almost superhuman—feats, yet were unable to restrain their tongues or their tempers. They were powerless to control their lusts, jealousy, hatred, bitterness, worry or fear. Again, not strength but weakness. Like a city that is broken into and without walls is a man who has no control over his spirit (Proverbs 25:28).
In biblical days, cities often had walls built around them which made them strong and defensible fortresses. But if the walls were broken down, the inhabitants were vulnerable and defenseless against an enemy’s attack. So, God is saying, “If you have self-control, it’s like having a wall around the city—you are strong. However, a person lacking self-control is weak, defenseless and vulnerable.”
Assertive
God’s Word does not teach us to be passive or aggressive, but to be assertive. For example, when Saul threw the spear at him, David was not passive—he did not just sit there and remain a target. Nor was he aggressive – he did not throw it back. He was assertive—he moved to avoid being hit.
Moses was more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth during his time (Numbers 12:3). Yet when the rebellious people he led out of Egyptian bondage opposed him on several occasions, he did not passively submit to them. Nor did he aggressively exert his authority and seek their destruction. Instead, he fell on his face before the Lord and assertively trusted the Lord to defend him and fight his battles.
Likewise, when the Jews sought to throw Jesus off a cliff, He did not passively allow them to do so. Nor did He aggressively try to defend Himself or take some of them down with Him. He assertively walked right through the crowd and went His way (Luke 4:29-30).
The magistrates in Acts 16:22-23 ordered Paul and Silas to be beaten and thrown into prison. They sent their officers the next day to release them, but Paul and Silas did not passively and quietly leave. Nor did they aggressively retaliate and seek revenge. They assertively insisted that, since they as Roman citizens were publicly beaten without a trial, the magistrates themselves must come and escort them from the prison (verses 35-39).
Whenever I am in a confrontation, being threatened or in a volatile situation, I always try to respond from a position of love, wisdom and self-control. Then, I believe I am following the example set by Jesus and fulfilling His instruction of going the second mile and turning the other cheek.
If someone attacks me for no reason, breaks into my house to harm my family or if I see someone being beaten up or raped, I would use whatever force necessary to resist or intervene. However, if I am being persecuted for my faith, then I will not use force to resist.
“Vengeance Is Mine” Says the Lord
Not only did Jesus say it, but Paul echoes similar words in Romans 12:17-21:
Never repay evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all people. If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all people. Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written: “VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY,” says the Lord. “BUT IF YOUR ENEMY IS HUNGRY, FEED HIM; IF HE IS THIRSTY, GIVE HIM A DRINK; FOR IN SO DOING YOU WILL HEAP BURNING COALS ON HIS HEAD.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
One thing is certain from Jesus’ words in Matthew 5:38-40 and the Apostle Paul’s words in Romans 12:17-21: personal revenge is taken out of our hands. Do people get away with unfair aggression, animosity, antagonism and attacks? Definitely not. Justice will be meted out in this life or the next by a righteous, just and all-knowing God.
For the ways of a man are before the eyes of the LORD, and He watches all his paths (Proverbs 5:21).
While my witness was having an impact on the program manager at a local radio station, another staff member there was trying to undermine everything I said behind my back. His hostility was all a smoke screen to the real issue. He was offended because I did several radio broadcasts on overcoming sexual immorality. A few years later, he was arrested for child pornography. He opposed the light of the Gospel, so it would not expose the darkness in his life. Undermining my integrity and witness backfired because the program manager became a Christian, while the staff member ended up in prison. I pray he truly repents and accepts Christ.
Over the years, several people have attempted to destroy me or the ministry. These were often battles I could not fight—let alone win—but the Lord ultimately did. Those who persisted in their sinister schemes and wicked ways eventually caused their own demise.
He who digs a pit will fall into it, and he who rolls a stone, it will come back on him (Proverbs 26:27).
Freedom to Choose
I choose to adopt the attitude that you cannot kill me because I am already dead to self and alive in Christ. You cannot steal from me, because I do not own anything—it is all the Lord’s anyway. You can throw me in prison for my testimony of Jesus and the Word of God, but you cannot control or defeat me because, like Paul and Silas in Acts 16:25, I can still sing praises to the Lord. You can beat and hate me, but I can still choose to love you. You can curse and gossip, but I can pray for you.
But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you (Luke 6:27-28).
After the apostles were beaten for refusing to stop testifying about Jesus, Acts 5:41-42 states:
So they went on their way from the presence of the Council [Sanhedrin], rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name. And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they kept right on teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.
The Essence of Strength
A man was once promoted as “the deadliest man alive,” claiming he taught the “deadliest and most terrifying fighting art known to man.” I was greatly impressed in my early teens by his ads in comic books. However, he spent much of his time near the end of his life living in fear, sitting behind a locked door with a gun on his lap. He died at age 36 in his sleep of internal hemorrhaging caused by a bleeding peptic ulcer and was buried in an unmarked grave.
As for man, his days are like grass; as a flower of the field, so he flourishes. When the wind has passed over it, it is no more, and its place acknowledges it no longer. But the lovingkindness of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear [revere] Him… (Psalm 103:15-18).
Walk the Second Mile
During His famous Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said:
Whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him two (Matthew 5:41).
Roman soldiers not only walked almost everywhere they went, they carried heavy packs, weighing up to 100 pounds. Just as they forced Simon of Cyrene to carry Jesus’ cross (Matthew 27:32), Roman law allowed military personnel to order those who were not Roman citizens to carry their equipment one Roman mile (estimated to have been around 4,850 feet).
If the civilian refused, he could be prosecuted under Roman law, which imposed harsh punishments to anyone who defied it. Once having reached the milestone marker, the civilian had no further obligation. When a Jew who was forced to carry a Roman soldier’s weighty gear reached the milestone marker, they could drop the baggage and say, “This is as far as I go. I fulfilled what Roman law requires.” If the soldier tried to force him to carry his pack farther, the soldier would be subject to punishment under the same Roman law.
Jesus said, “If they ask you to go one mile, go two.” Why? One reason is that when a Roman soldier made them go one mile, the Roman was in control, but when they willingly chose to carry the gear one more mile, they were saying, “You might have forced me to carry your load the first mile, but now I choose to carry it another mile.” Instead of being victimized, the Christian shows himself to be the master of the situation, willingly and with a right attitude of heart, going the second mile.
The preceding was excerpted from Bill’s new book Self Defense from a Biblical Perspective.
Bill Rudge Ministries 