This “Application” column goes with the
In an episode of the TV show
Seinfeld, Jerry’s friend George sits in the coffee shop bemoaning his bad luck. He says, “My life is the opposite of everything I want it to be. Every instinct I have, in every aspect of life . . . it’s all been wrong.”
Jerry’s advice? “If every instinct you have is wrong, then the opposite would have to be right.”
George decides, “Yes, I will do the opposite. I used to sit here and do nothing, and regret it for the rest of the day, so now I will do the opposite!” Instead of his usual tuna salad on toast, he orders chicken salad on rye. Instead of shying away from a pretty woman, he initiates a conversation. George’s social life improves and he gets promoted at work when he does the opposite of his natural instincts.
1. What challenge did you face last week?
2. In what specific way did you live, love, or serve like Jesus over the past week?
Ask three people two readers and one reteller to help. Ask the readers to read
Matthew 5:1-16 one after the other, preferably from different Bible versions.
Ask the third person to summarize the teaching in one minute or less.
3. What worldviews do you see represented in Jesus’ teaching?
4. Let’s dig more deeply into the passage. • To whom is Jesus teaching these lessons? • In what specific ways does Jesus separate (call out) his disciples from the crowd?