God, suffering and other people

To Sum it up

Dealing with the pain from the action of others

1Pe 3:8-17 NASB

 8   To sum up, all of you be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted, and humble in spirit;

 9   not returning evil for evil or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead; for you were called for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing.

 10   For, "THE ONE WHO DESIRES LIFE, TO LOVE AND SEE GOOD DAYS, MUST KEEP HIS TONGUE FROM EVIL AND HIS LIPS FROM SPEAKING DECEIT.

 11   "HE MUST TURN AWAY FROM EVIL AND DO GOOD; HE MUST SEEK PEACE AND PURSUE IT.

 12   "FOR THE EYES OF THE LORD ARE TOWARD THE RIGHTEOUS, AND HIS EARS ATTEND TO THEIR PRAYER, BUT THE FACE OF THE LORD IS AGAINST THOSE WHO DO EVIL."

 13   Who is there to harm you if you prove zealous for what is good?

 14   But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed. AND DO NOT FEAR THEIR INTIMIDATION, AND DO NOT BE TROUBLED,

 15   but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence;

 16   and keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame.

 17   For it is better, if God should will it so, that you suffer for doing what is right rather than for doing what is wrong.

I have been meditating on this passage for a while now. It seems to fit into what is happening in my life. I must admit there are some things here I don’t like. I don’t like the truth that I may do good with my life and still suffer, be rejected, end up being persecuted (v 13-14). I don’t like it that even though I am facing fear and intimidation, God calls me “not to be troubled.” That is a little upsetting. How else will I get people to have sympathy for me if I don’t share my troubles?

Then verse 15. I don’t mind telling people what I think (modern take on “always be ready to make a defense”). But why do we need to add the burden of a right heart before God to the mixture? Why add “gentleness and reverence?” Why not have bold aggression and logical agreements? Why must I be as concerned with the person as with the problem? This is a huge burden to me.

I want to defend the truth and live for God and not care so much about others. And beside this “care for others” is not caring for them in the way they want. It is caring for them in the way God wants. The standard of God is not seeking to have others love me more. His standard is seeking to have them love Him more. I know what it is like to try and love others, to care for them so that they think well of me. I have some skill in doing good so that people love me back. But how do you live in such a way as to do good and not be focused on how people treat you, but rather on how they treat God?

In reflecting on the passage above, I think it is time for me, maybe time for many of us, to stop living the Christian life based upon the approval of those around us. “It is better to suffer for doing what is right rather than for doing what is wrong.” It is wrong to live our lives based on the manipulation of “if I love you, will you love me?” What could be further from the nature of God than this conditional love? How many thousands of people have we not shared our true selves with, who we have not shared the true God with, because we were more worried about how they would treat us rather than how they would treat God.

So how do we live a balanced life? How do we avoid the extremes of a “man pleasing spirit” and a “self-pleasing spirit?” I think verse 15 has some counsel. “Sanctify Christ in your heart.”

Our “heart” is our inner man which includes our thoughts and feelings. We need to deal with our thought life, our ability to reason and our emotions. Neither one, reason nor emotion, should rule us – right? The Lord, residing in us through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit should rule us. The idea of “Jesus as Lord” is the idea that Jesus is ruler, king, in control, in authority. We need to labor with God and allow both our emotions and our thoughts to be aligned with His will. Remember “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done?”

Most of us live with our thoughts and emotions independent of God’s lordship. We live with ourselves still in authority over our lives and thus we see all of life through the eyes of what others are doing to us. As we grow in establishing the rule of God over our thoughts and emotions we start to see life more from the perspective of God. God becomes the center of our vision and perception. We gain more courage and peace as we experience freedom from the fear and rejection of others. I believe each one of us has a dominate emotions, maybe happiness, or love or fear or anger. When our strongest emotion is under the rule of God, our perceptions change.

So, sanctifying Christ in our hearts involves establishing “God is Lord” over our emotions and thoughts. This “sanctifying” is the more than honoring God, or worshiping God. This sanctifying is the establishing of God in our inner man as holy, unlike us and in total authority over all we do and say. This call to holiness is not impossible, only difficult. We can do all things through Christ Jesus who strengthens us. We can be transformed in our inner man through the work and grace of Jesus Christ the Lord.

All that, so that we can do what? Suffer and not be defeated. It’s time we stop thinking too highly of ourselves and think more highly of the Lord. It’s time we develop some skills at suffering so that we can move on with living the life God has for us.