I am continuing to process the contexts of I Peter 2 and 4 in relation to us entrusting ourselves to God in our suffering the way Jesus entrusted himself to his Father during his suffering. These are the two Scriptures I am considering:
|
I Peter 2:23 |
I Peter 4:19 |
|
When he was reviled, he did not revile in
return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting
himself to him who judges justly. |
Therefore let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good. |
The theme is, how do I entrust myself to our faithful Creator in the things I suffer as I imitate Jesus who entrusted himself to his Father as the perfect judge? The attachment involved in entrusting has captivated me.
Today I am here:
He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.[1]
I am considering the impact of Jesus bearing my sins in his body on the tree, “that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.” The “dying” and the “living” are extreme contrasts!
First, that is a horrendously huge demand on me that cannot be ignored. Jesus’ direct purpose in dying for me was that I might die to my sin and live to righteousness. This is not an option, but the whole point of his death. As Paul said, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”[2] We can only become the righteousness of God as we become dead to sin.
Second, baptism is when this is sealed in us, as Paul said,
Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.[3]
This means that EVERY baptized believer alive in the church today (the church knows no other kind of believer) has already died to sin and been raised from the dead to live like Jesus in our love. Bitterness belongs to the old life; love belongs to the newness of life.
Third, this verse really helped me see where God is taking this with me: “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”[4] God loving me WHILE I was a sinner requires me to love others WHILE they are sinning, and especially when they are sinning against me!
Fourth, this verse sealed it for me, “By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.”[5] Laying down our lives requires dying. That’s what Jesus did. And even though we cannot do this redemptively, we can do it comparatively. I can be like Jesus in loving others.
Conclusion: God is not promising me how long this WHILE will be that I must love people WHILE they are sinning against me. However, I know I would rather feel the spiritual satisfaction of agapè-hesed-loving[6] like Jesus than the sarky[7] satisfaction of harboring bitterness against people for their injustices against me.
Jesus bore my
injustices against him to satisfy God’s justice against me, and I confess my
willingness to be like him even though I must feel the sorrow of suffering unjustly
as I entrust my soul-care to God and continue to do good.
© 2023
Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8
Email: in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the
English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text
Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of
Good News Publishers.)
[1]
I Peter 2:24
[2]
II Corinthians 5:21
[3]
Romans 6:3-4
[4]
Romans 5:8
[5]
I John 3:16
[6]
“agapè” is the Greek word used in the New Testament for God’s love for
us and our love for others, including our enemies. It is all-encompassing over
all other loves (family love, marriage love, friendship love, brotherly love). “hesed”
is the Hebrew word used in the Old Testament referring to God’s covenantal love,
often translated “steadfast love”. Together, these words summarize the glory
of God’s unfailing love and guides us in how to love as the Triune God has
loved us.
[7]
The Greek word translated “flesh” in the New Testament sounds like “sark”
or “sarx” so I have become accustomed to referring to our fleshly
desires and feelings as “sarky”.
