Suffering For Doing Right
1 Peter 2:20 But if you are punished for doing wrong, there is no reason to praise you for bearing that punishment. But if you suffer for doing good and you are patient, this pleases God.
When we suffer an injustice, when we discover in our own experience, yet again, that life’s not fair, we want to rail against it, don’t we? We want to behave badly, and all too often, that’s exactly what we do.
You know what they say: no good deed ever goes unpunished. So, have you ever been punished for doing what’s right?
Our default position is that life should be fair – especially, let me say, when it comes to us. If we do good, we expect a reward. If we do bad, well, we hope we’ll get away with it, but we’re not all that surprised if we end up having to wear the consequences.
That’s how we see the world. It should be fair.
But the problem is life it isn’t always fair. People aren’t always fair. We know that’s true, but we’re so outraged, when we find ourselves on the receiving end of some injustice.
So, you have your heart set on doing what’s right. You do it as best you can. And along comes someone who’s threatened, or jealous, or maybe just a bundle of insecurities and whack! They punish you even though you did good.
Not fair? Sure it isn’t! It feels like nobody’s noticed your pain. But that’s not true. Someone did. God did.
1 Peter 2:20 But if you are punished for doing wrong, there is no reason to praise you for bearing that punishment. But if you suffer for doing good and you are patient, this pleases God.
Why is that? Why is it that patiently suffering an injustice pleases God? Because that’s exactly what Jesus did on that cross for the likes of thee and me. When you patiently endure an injustice you have God’s approval. It’s as simple as that.
That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.
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