Dear friends,
One of the consistent Biblical messages is that God wants us to be different from those around us; different in behavior and values; different in the way we respond to life’s events, different in our priorities, and different in the way we treat others. God wanted the Israelites to be set apart by a covenant with God. The prophets reminded the people of that constantly. Jesus always raised the bar of even what covenant with God had required under the law. Scripture calls us to be light and salt, to forgive repeatedly, and to give everyone a helping hand, friend and stranger alike.
We often mistakenly believe that our faith and the good works it inspires will always be appreciated and applauded and make us friends. This Sunday’s passage from I Peter 2:18-25 presents the hard truth that we are naive if we make that assumption. The truth is that not every good deed will bring approval. Sometimes there is undeserved suffering and opposition. What then?
As always, we look to Jesus for our example. He endured a lot of opposition, hate and abuse, and never paid back in kind. It’s not easy to do, at least not for us. I was recently in a situation where someone repeatedly yelled at a group I was with, used a 1 finger salute over and over and used a word we don’t use in church many, many times. I had so many possible responses bubble up in me, but along with my companions, I just waved and smiled. I also prayed for him, that whatever was making him so viciously angry would be softened and that he would find peace in his life.
God doesn’t ask us to mimic the world around us, but rather to mimic Jesus, our savior, who endured all kinds of things on our behalf, and showed us the way to deal with undeserved suffering in life. It’s not easy, and I know for myself that learning how to do this is a life-long journey. I hope to see you on Sunday in worship as we look at this scripture together. May we find the adage “changed lives change lives” to be true as we seek to follow Jesus, no matter what comes our way.
See you in church!
Pastor Gayle
