Well this past month I have taken a detour and dug into 1 Peter. This is a book that deals with relationships with those that are not following Christ for the purpose of drawing them to Christ, Himself.
It was hugely convicting as I examined situations that were current in my life and my inner attitude had effected my outward actions. It is so hard to live in a culture where it is the norm and almost expected that you return evil for evil. It is justifiable to speak badly of those who speak badly of us. Why would you love those who hate you let alone go out of your way to show that love?
We are to keep ourselves blameless before our God. Loving everyone in His name so the testimony of our life will bring people to the realization that God is the reason that we have HOPE and endure all of life’s struggles (including relational one’s) with JOY. Peter state’s a couple of times that we are no different than the world if we do as they do in being nice to those who are nice to us….but if we are nice to those who are not nice to us with a great attitude to boot… we are set apart and can rejoice because we are sharing the same persecution that Jesus endured for His sake.
So then the question I am left to ask myself is do I try to blend in… follow the crowd…. try not to stick out… not go out of my way to stand up for, be kind to, up lift those that do not return the same sentiments? If we love those who love us back what credit is that to us? Even non-Christians do that. If we love those who hate us and go out of their way to make our lives miserable and love them with all that is within us, then we can take that suffering knowing that we have been true to our Saviour and we can be used to our full potential for the work of God’s Kingdom, standing righteous before God.
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