He did not retaliate when he was insulted, nor threaten revenge when he suffered. He left his case in the hands of God, who always judges fairly. – 1 Peter 2:23 (NLT)
“It’s our duty to try” is a call we should all heed when we become born-again Christians. Accepting Jesus as our Lord and Saviour is more than just saying the words, it is doing.
The fact is that nowhere in the Bible does it say we will not be insulted; we will not suffer. Jesus didn’t get out of it and neither will we. What we must learn is how to deal with it. Trying is more important than not doing anything at all. If we don’t try to follow Jesus’ example, what good is our faith?
A large part of our decision to accept Jesus is to follow his example. That means we need to live our lives in the same way He did. However, this is easier said than done. As imperfect humans, we do retaliate, and we do threaten revenge when we suffer. Our instinct is to fight back and to hurt those who hurt us. It is harder for us to hold back and let God handle it. In a lot of cases, we don’t even bother trying, which in a way would make God sad.
Why would God be sad when we don’t try? The simple truth is that God will give us the strength to not retaliate, if only we asked him. Because we haven’t asked Him, it shows God that we didn’t at least attempt to try. We just gave in.
Our duty to try is an important aspect of our walk with God. Trying shows that we do remember that Jesus went through bad things and that he let go and let God. Even if we don’t succeed, it is the trying that matters. When you try to something, you can at least walk away with the knowledge that you did.
Even during the times, we are not suffering, we still need to work on trying to follow Jesus’ footsteps. Learning more about the way Jesus handle both the good and bad things in his life is something we all should do. The Bible is full of examples of what Jesus did while he was here on earth. These examples should be imprinted in our brains and our hearts.
Jesus knew and still knows how easy it is to give in. He studied God’s Word and made sure that it was in his heart and mind. His trying had the backing of knowing what God wants us to do when we suffer, and it should be the same with us.
It is in the trying that we remember Jesus and what he did. Without trying there will be no way we can conquer anything that comes before us.
Originally published July 2019