Pushing Back

 

1 Peter 4:19

So then, those who suffer for obeying God

should commit themselves to their faithful Creator

and continue to do good.

A caveat to begin.  

The kind of suffering experienced by Peter's original audience was extreme and traumatic.  It's easy to forget that, when the Christian movement was first beginning, to claim that you were a follower of Jesus could very easily result in overt, empire-initiated persecution, torture, or loss of life.  That's just history.

For me, and most of my believing friends in this era and this part of the world, we have no sweet clue about suffering 'for obeying God.'

That being said.

It's probably true that most of us, at one time or another, have had the "aggravation of spirit" that rises up when, despite clearly having done 'the right thing,' somehow the consequences have come down hard in a punishing kind of way.  Instead of being rewarded, we are criticized, demoted, demeaned, overlooked, suspected, taken advantage of, mocked and/or out right attacked.

• Standing up to a bully on behalf of the bullied, and having the snot kicked out of you.
• Refusing to bend the law or cross ethical lines for an employer, and getting fired for it.
• Refusing to keep a secret that needed to come to the light, and becoming a target for vitriol.  
• Turning down the drink because you have your reasons, and being painted as the party's buzz kill.
• Refusing to lie for a "friend," and then losing that friend.
• Struggling to breastfeed your baby while fielding degrading comments about your ability as a mother.
• Protecting the reputation of someone who turns around and slanders yours.
• Declining to take reimbursements you're entitled to, and being accused of financial abuse anyways.
• Being laughed at by the one who broke your trust for trusting them in the first place.
• Offering a gift with genuine intentions and being accused of manipulation.
• Offering assistance with grace to someone who caused their own difficult situation, and being pulled into a black hole of ingratitude.

I could go on.

Maybe you could too.

I feel you.

And here I need to add that Jesus wanted us to be "as wise as snakes and as innocent as doves" (Matthew 10:16).  And Paul was clear that we should "watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way" and to be "wise about what is good" (Romans 16:17,19).  Way back in Proverbs, there are so many cautions about how we engage with certain folks (eg. Proverbs 14:16).  

So to "continue to do good" can't mean to continue to allow ourselves to be abused, or used, or bullied, or manipulated, or otherwise harmed.  Indeed, when Peter was writing this, there was no such thing as an understood Universal Declaration of Human Rights, or any legitimate, legal means by which those human rights could be protected.  

What Peter is getting at here, though, might much harder.  Because it's about the deeper, kind of gritty conviction that good is still the right thing to do.  That, even if we have to remove ourselves from harmful situations, we don't give up on goodness.

We don't give up by succumbing to revenge.

We don't give up by hanging old stuff on new people.

We don't give up by becoming suspicious of every new situation.

We don't give up by caving in to joining in doing harm.

We don't give up by despairing of doing good since life doesn't always seem fair, so what's the point?

Instead.  We commit ourselves - we trust ourselves into the hands of - our faithful Creator -Whose faithfulness is legendary by the way - and just keep doing the right thing, no matter what.

It's a resolve.  Doing good because it's the right thing to do.

Friends, let's not give up.  Because the world badly needs gritty doers of good.  People who truly believe that there is something right about doing the right thing.  It will, if we let it, push the the bad stuff back.  If we just keep moving forward, one good thing at a time.

And now, what can happen this week?  

Can't wait to see.

And oh.  The flowers picture.

As much as I would like to have a clever illustration or connection to the blog content...I got nothin.'  

This is just one of several hyacinths from our 'bonus' front garden, where spring flowers show up every year courtesy of the former owner.  

We just enjoy.