It sounds like a bad joke, but I mean it. If anyone has an answer (or a punchline) I'd like to know.
This is not an easy faith for those of us with poorly constructed boundaries. If someone strikes your right cheek, turn and offer your left. If they ask for your shirt, give them your coat as well. If they make you walk one mile, go two. "Give to him who begs from you, and do not refuse him who would borrow from you."
Funny, I don't remember Jesus ever saying anything like "You have to take care of yourself, first." (I also don't ever remember him railing against a culture of entitlement, but that's a political discussion I'm not going to get into here). There is the passage about removing the log from your own eye before removing the speck from your brother's, but then I read it in context and discovered that it's REALLY more about not pointing out others' faults before acknowledging your own.
Where does a Christian draw the line? It's hard to know whether I'm being pathologically self-sacrificing or living the gospel.
Maybe I should get a WWJD bracelet; What WOULDN'T Jesus Do?
In Billions and Billions, Carl Sagan wrote an excellent comparison of different philosophies with respect to how much other cheek one should turn. He cites the Silver Rule, "Do not unto others as you have have them not do unto you," which is roughly your "What Wouldn't Jesus Do". The Silver Rule governs nonviolent resistance movements like those of Gandhi and King. The rule that works the best in game theory is the Brass, or "Tit for Tat", Rule: "Do unto others as they do unto you." This rule rewards cooperation and punishes unkind behavior.
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