Jesus showed an enormous amount of self-control when he was persecuted. He did not lash out or make threats in return for the insults and punishment he received. I wonder how many of us could do that (as an individual) in this day and age?
Everyone looks up to a fighter, a champion for the cause. Someone who will not take it lying down, but will get up and return insult for insult and punch for punch and so on… But what 1 Peter is telling us to do is submit. Let God change hearts and minds. I don’t know about you but it’s hard to live up to this. Easier said than done; but if we sit and think about it and study some more verses we begin to see why:
James 1:19-20 – Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.
Ephesians 4:26-27 – Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: Neither give place to the devil.
Ever get angry at someone and they just stood there silent, not talking back, just listening to your every word. Notice how you started out angry and flying off the handle but the silence or calm voice of who you were angry with began to make you self-aware and even a little guilty for going crazy in the first place? How about losing something and getting so mad you went nuts. You went scorched earth. Then when you found what you were looking for in the last place you left it, you melted in shame.
We are all going to struggle with anger and what we see on the news. We will want to grab social media and vent our frustrations possibly putting us on the radar with the authorities or making someone cringe, “wow, I don’t even know you anymore!”.
The thing is we need to avoid sinning. Anger can lead to sin. There’s a time to be righteously angry and a time to be calm and let God be God. We can’t change certain things. Some things are God’s territory, not ours. Pray, go to church, worship God, vote, work, eat, play, protect your family and home, go to meetings…. but let God handle changing people.
1 Peter 2:23 – Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously: