Sometime ago I prayed that I might have more of God and His Spirit. Today, 1 Peter 2:19,20 spoke loud and clear. "Put up with it for God's sake when you're badly treated for no good reason. There's no particular virtue in accepting punishment that you well deserve. But if you're treated badly for good behavior and continue in spite of it to be a good servant, that is what counts with God."
As old as I am I have many times been treated unfairly in churches, believe it or not. Sometimes I have left that church and found another only to be discouraged again. After examining my own actions and finding no real error, it has often been hard to continue on serving that church. As I grew older, I became more forgiving, but not after rather a lot of prayer. I am not perfect and am bound to make mistakes. Many mistakes have taught me, but there have been quite a few that left me speechless with wounded pride and wondering what on earth I had done to warrant punishment.
I guess it takes a lot of stings to warn one away from bees. And it probably takes many more stings to love them, especially when you're working toward getting all that honey! And that's what the above verse taught me today.
Being ill-treated? Serve anyway.
Who do you follow? The Lord Jesus. And he suffered from ill-treatment over and over. But He didn't stop serving His Father.
I prayed for more of the Spirit and more of the Son. And I'm getting it! Thank you, Lord, for showing me that I can accept unfair treatment and serve happily. I don't have to think twice if asked, "Who's your Daddy?" The Lord God Almighty!!! Signed, jo
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