1 Peter 2:23 When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.
It can be very difficult to withstand the onslaught of false accusations, no matter the source of the accusations. The natural response is to defend yourself, trying to correct the record with the facts. But in this day and age, facts don’t seem to matter.
Today, if you don’t defend yourself, no matter how futile the attempt will be, you are presumed guilty in the court of public opinion. So if you defend yourself, you are deemed guilty, and if you don’t defend yourself, you are also guilty. Today’s bullets are the lies that get accepted by the public.
I am thankful that I am not a public figure. I am an unknown. No one wants to know my opinion and broadcast it across social media. I have such a low profile, that almost no one reads what I write or listens to what I speak.
But there are times when I wish I had a louder megaphone, because I do have things to say that would be helpful to others. Have you ever wanted a louder megaphone? Have you ever had something to say, but no way to broadcast it to those who would benefit from hearing it?
If there was a person who had something to say, that person was Jesus. In His time here on Earth, He reached a relatively small group of people. He didn’t have the platform of the Roman Emperor. He was obscure.
It was only with His death and resurrection that things changed. His Disciples were empowered by the coming of the Holy Spirit and Jesus’ message started to spread rapidly. It spread even further when persecution dispersed His followers. It was persecution that led to the rapid expansion of the Church.
Our text tells us in summary form what made the message of Jesus so powerful. When insults came, Jesus did not come back with a witty retort. He did not go into a tirade to defend Himself. He was willing to let His life speak louder than His words.
We often get caught up on the moment when we are attacked. We have the tendency to retaliate. We want justice, and we want it now! Jesus was willing to allow the timing of God bring about justice.
And in one sense, justice is still waiting for Jesus. It is only when Jesus sits on His throne that justice will take place. He is waiting for His return to execute the final justice.
Next time injustice heads your direction, how will you react? How would you like to react? Are you willing to entrust yourself to the LORD in that moment? Or will you follow your normal pattern of reaction?
Our goal is to be holy as He is holy. Retaliation and threats are the human response to injustice, but they are not God’s response to injustice. So we should prepare ourselves now for the future moment when injustice comes knocking. We need to pray, get into His Word and allow the Word to change how we think and react.
The Arnold Journey 