People Will Be People

No Christian should ever be unkind to anyone at any time. No child of God should ever treat a man of God in an unchristian way. No servant of the Lord should ever be unkind to a fellow servant of the Lord or to anyone else. It doesn’t matter how unkind, cold, or ugly someone has been to us. It is never acceptable for any reason and never pleases our Lord.  

 
 But the fact is, it happens. Because all of us are flawed and imperfect people, we will, from time to time, hurt one another. Because it will happen, the next question is, how will we respond when it happens to us? Some servants of God will conclude that everyone is mean to preachers and convince themselves that everyone is out to hurt us. This reaction can cause us to be bitter, resentful, or even skeptical of everyone around us. It may even lead some to consider “getting out.” 

 
 When considering how to react when mistreated, there is no better person to follow than our Savior. Not only is He the supreme example because He wanted to teach us how to react, but He also wanted to teach us how to remain strong and not quit.  

“For you have been called for this purpose, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you would follow in His steps,  He who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth; and while being abusively insulted, He did not insult in return; while suffering, He did not threaten, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously.” (1 Peter 2:21-23) 

 
 Rather than responding like the world, may God help us to follow the example of our Savior and do our best to follow in His steps!