WHEN YOU ARE BEING WRONGED

“God will bless you, even if others treat you unfairly for being loyal to him.” (1 Peter 2:19, CEV)

Of greater concern to every Christian in all our dealings with others, whether within or outside the church, is not primarily the nature of their attitude toward us or how they chose to treat us because of who we are or what we believe. It is rather our own attitude toward them and how we respond to them because these alone are we accountable for and in direct control of. The pertinent question is: will your response and attitude be an expression of loyalty to God or not?

 The persecution and opposition we often encounter in life can make it difficult for us to stay loyal to God, because sometimes we want to take matters into our own hands and hit back in anger. But if we fail to make loyalty to God our utmost priority, then the “flesh”, that is, the sinful behaviour, character and attitude of the old nature, can easily gain the upper hand and interfere with our ability to live lives that God considers praiseworthy and blessed.

When you are being wronged for doing right, your top priority is to stay loyal to God and keep the flesh under no matter the facts of the situation. Our text says that God will bless you for staying loyal to Him – acting and behaving as He instructs you to act and behave.

In the verse that follows, the Bible remind its readers the obvious outcome for doing wrong – which is definitely not a beneficial outcome:

“You don’t gain anything by being punished for some wrong you have done. But God will bless you, if you have to suffer for doing something good. (1 Peter 2:20, CEV)

And then we are encouraged to follow Christ’s example:

“After all, God chose you to suffer as you follow in the footsteps of Christ, who set an example by suffering for you. Christ did not sin or ever tell a lie. Although he was abused, he never tried to get even. And when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he had faith in God, who judges fairly. ” (1 Peter 2:21–23, CEV)

Jesus Christ our Lord must be our example in these very difficult scenarios. He could do anything and certainly had the power to accomplish anything He decided to do, but He never sought to repay evil with evil or retaliate in anyway - instead, He had faith in God, who judges fairly”.  He was focused on staying loyal to the Father. Nothing we do is more precious than having faith in God’s fairness, and continuing undaunted in our loyalty to Him. The just shall live by faith for without faith we can never be able to please God.

In following the footsteps of Jesus, you can be sure that the Father will be pleased with your loyalty to Him, just as He was pleased with Jesus’ and honoured Him.

No amount of unfairness from people can rob you of God's blessings for no one has the power to curse you when God has pronounced blessing. Only you can interfere with that blessing and your loyalty and faithfulness to Jehovah are being tried in order to prove them.

Though you constantly face unfairness from people and your faith is severely tested and buffeted, yet God will judge fairly and will not withhold or delay His reward if you persevere in your pursuit of Him. Have faith in God!