1 Peter 2.23 23 When he was reviled, he did not revile in
return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself
to him who judges justly. (ESV)
Of the Lord Jesus Peter said: But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a
gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this you have been called, because
Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow
in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When
he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not
threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. (1
Peter 2.20b-23 ESV)
What I keyed on this morning was the last phrase of verse
23: “…but continued entrusting Himself to
Him who judges justly.” I thought about this and thought about how many
times I’ve decided to not entrust myself to Him who judges justly; I’ve fought
my own battles. And that’s the way we’re raised: to fight our own fights and
stand up for ourselves. But that’s not the example that’s been left for us to
follow.
I call myself a Christ-follower;
that means I follow the teachings of the Lord and the example of the Lord. Jesus didn’t defend Himself, He
defended God. For sure Jesus picked fights, but He picked the fights the Father
told Him to pick and there was always a divine reason for such confrontation:
God promised Israel everything and they threw it back in His face. And in His
grace God continued to attempt to correct them and redirect them. It ended in a
crucifixion.
In this world the people of God are called to be good and do good. That doesn’t mean
they’re going to be appreciated for it. More likely they’ll pay a price by
doing good and suffer for it. The world doesn’t want good…according to God’s
measure of good. But following in Jesus’ example we’re to do good anyway
despite how we’re treated. And we’re to put up with it when reviled and suffer
for it; that’s the way God planned it;
that’s the way He wants it to be…
It’s part of being holy; it’s part of being other (see my blog from 7-22-13). And it’s
different than what we see around us and what most of us have been taught about
living life: you fight your fights and
defend your rights. The culture of Christ is different. It’s other. It’s
our example.
The difficulty of our example is our push-back; our
example goes against the grain of who we think we are. The world expects us to
do as they do and gets offended when we don’t. The world expects us to act as
they do and sees weakness and cowardice when we don’t. When push comes to
shove, we’re to take shove.
It all comes down to keeping our life focus on Jesus. We
can’t always do what Jesus did but we can emulate Him: When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he
did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.
Jesus kept His eyes on God and we’re expected to do the same.
Father, it takes a certain kind of courage to allow
oneself to take the abuse and keep one’s eyes focused on Him who bore it all so
that we might follow in His footsteps. But that is what You’ve called us to –
called me to. I ask for help to do it and to keep my focus where it needs to
be: on the Living Christ who gave it all for me… amen.
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