Called to Suffer

I Pet. 2:21

 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.

 

It is a gracious thing, when mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. It certainly take the grace of God to suffer unjustly! Something in my flesh cries out for vindication. So in reality, suffering unjustly is a double-fronted trial. First I have been injured or unjustly treated, a situation that isn't fair or right. This is often the card that Satan plays to get me off my game, to get my flesh to take control over my spirit. But if I do manage to endure, then I have to decide to cry out for His grace instead of powering through in my own strength. Often, I don't ask for grace until I have crossed over into anger or bitterness.

 

For what credit is it if you endure, and are beaten for it, you endure? No credit to me whatsoever if I power through! I am losing out on the entire blessing and growth that this trial can bring. But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. The favor and blessing comes not in the arena of receiving deserved punishment, but in the area of receiving undeserved punishment. Christ has taken this a step farther. It is not enough to do good without suffering [which is how the flesh thinks it should be], but I must do good and suffer for it! Why?

 

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. First it is my calling from God. Jesus left me His life as my example. Unjust suffering is the path that I and all believers must walk!  Christ suffered unjustly for me! 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. He rejected the notion of eye for an eye and tooth for tooth. His life style went above and beyond what was normally accepted. But why?

 

But continued entrusting Himself to Him who judges justly. His actions and attitudes were centered in the sovereign will and purpose of God. He did not live for self, but for His Father. Since Jesus indwells me, then I must live as He did, with His priorities and purposes. He ever lived to do the will of His Father, willingly humbling Himself to the point of death on a cross, a totally unjust punishment! He did all this to obey His Father and bring me salvation. Therefore my life must be in sync with the Father too. I must not live for my flesh but only for the spirit. Instead of me righting the wrongs done to me or getting even with others, I must trust it to God who is the rightful judge of all. God's scales of justice does not operate in man's time, I may never in my lifetime see the score righted! Instead I must trust God to be true to His promise! So hard! It so takes all and only the grace of God! Certainly, that is why it is a gracious thing to suffer unjustly!

 

Father,

Give me Your grace in great measure so that I might entrust my soul to You in all things. Teach me to cry out immediately not after I have rolled in the flesh.

In His name,

Amen