Matthew 5:38-42

Matthew 5:38-42 
English Standard Version (ESV)

  There was a rule at the time that a Roman soldier could commandeer you and have you carry his gear for a mile.  That'd be pretty inconvenient, right?  You had to drop whatever you were doing, carry something heavy for a mile, then turn around and walk a mile back to whatever you were in the middle of.
  Jesus said to walk two miles.
  Or picture someone suing you for your shirt.  You'd be upset and defensive, right?  Jesus says to give them the shirt, and then your jacket as well.  He doesn't even bother to get into the debate about who is in the right.  What if the other person doesn't deserve it?
  Jesus is teaching us about how we hold on to things -- our money, our time, our energy.  We often hoard these things.  We start to think they are ours, and pretty soon they are defining us, and not long after that they become the most dear things in the world to us.  We worry about anyone else taking them, and so we become defensive, to the point that we allow relationships to deteriorate over stuff.
  When we worship Jesus and recognize that all that we have belongs to him, we don't hold so tightly to our stuff.  We value relationships and people more than things and money.  We don't see the loss of time as an inconvenience, but an opportunity.  We look at the world and the people around us differently, and we are freed from fear of losing so that we can truly love and serve.  It's a different mindset, a different heartset, but Jesus is training us, teaching us, challenging us.