Follow His Steps.

1Pe 2:20  For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.

When you do well and suffer for it - how do you react?

What is your very first thought/emotion.  You did something nice and all you do is catch grief for it undeservedly. We've all been in this situation, sometimes quite often, right? I don't know about you but unfortunately I've got a tendency to get upset because as I would say…"I was only trying to do something nice." I'd feel put out, I'd hold a grudge of upset for at least a couple hours if not more. My upset is NOT acceptable with God.  It says so right there in His word as plain as day. I could try to put my own spin on it and add things like … take it patiently unless it was something super nice and you were buffeted for it in some manner. Yet that's MY spin, not God's and if I add my spin I'm truly corrupting the word of God, the HOLY word of God.

There we have it then, if you do good and you suffer for doing that good- TAKE IT PATIENTLY.

If you do bad and suffer for it, it is acceptable to take the suffering- the punishment patiently, right? You deserve to suffer for your wrong doing and that's completely understandable. We can ALL comprehend being made to suffer for doing wrong, and isn't it awful if one who does wrong is upset because they get punished for it and rightly so? If a person gets their just reward so to speak we can comprehend that, yes? I'm sure the majority of people have been punished a time or two (or three, or four, etc.) for something they've done wrong. Don't we cheer when the bad guys get their comeuppance in our television shows, movies, and books? And on the same note, don't we cheer when the goodness of a person supersedes their natural desire to want to lash out when they get in trouble for doing something good. That person truly is answering to a higher power than their own. To be able to overlook being hurt when all they do is good, truly this is acceptable to God.

That Biblical passage continues with this--

1Pe 2:20  For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.

1Pe 2:21  For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: 

1Pe 2:22  Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: 

1Pe 2:23  Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously: 

1Pe 2:24  Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. 

1Pe 2:25  For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls. 

We are called to bear it patiently when we rebuked for well doing no matter the circumstances. Our SAVIOR left us an example of this very thing in Himself. We need to follow in our Savior's footsteps.  When He was reviled, He reviled NOT again. When He suffered- He threatened NOT.

Seriously, Jesus did NO wrong yet He suffered terribly, no one can dispute this. Jesus felt pain. Jesus comprehended fully what it meant to be hurt physically, mentally and emotionally.

Luk_22:44  And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

Jesus knows.  Yet, in all things He endured without reviling again.

Imagine having the patience to endure being slighted for doing good.

Patience.

Where can such patience come from, with what knowledge?   It has to come from the BIGGER PICTURE doesn't it? If ALL we have hope in is this life here and now and things are going horrifically for us so that we can say our lives are just a mess, then is it any wonder we'd give into reviling and the like? If there is no hope at all, no greater purpose to it all, then it's comprehensible isn't it? But if there is a greater purpose, if there is a hope for a better existence, then we can understand that having patience now to endure is towards that end. Our patience can stem from our hope which is Christ Jesus, our Savior. The thing is… now we have to implement the knowledge we possess and the hope we hold. Implementing means making a conscious decision to react in a certain way and praying that it becomes so. Implementing means recognizing the wrong in our reactions whenever they occur and praying - seeking forgiveness and hoping for a future change in our behavior. Implementing means truly seeking to follow in the footsteps of our Lord!

God help us all!

In the Love of our Savior, Jesus Christ now and forever!!!!!!!