If you read through the Sermon on the Mount in its entirety—all three chapters—and think about living it consistently, you may feel successful obedience to its teachings is almost impossible. This could lead to discouragement. I'm deeply grateful for an idea that showed me how not to give up my efforts to obey.
Once I was researching a verse from the sermon and about how it would relate to me today. The verse reads, "Whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain." Matt. 5:41; Much of the travel in Jesus' time was by foot, and a burdened soldier (one of the Romans occupying Israel then) could draft a civilian to carry his heavy gear for as much as a mile.
As I visualized a dry, dusty road under a burning sun, and a Roman soldier demanding one of the subject population to carry heavy baggage, I realized suddenly and very clearly, "Of course! I'd go with him the two miles, and even more—that is, if he were my dearest friend!"
