Let go and love
- rhondacochran
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
For God called you to do good, even if it means suffering, just as Christ suffered for you. He is your example, and you must follow in His steps. ~1 Peter 2:21 (NLT)
We tend to have a warped sense of what it means to do good. We think doing others good is straightening them out, giving them a piece of solid advice or even a little silent treatment if they aren’t living up to what we believe they should. Silent treatment is good if you are being silent to prevent yourself from saying something you shouldn’t, but shunning others is a whole different story. It’s just another form of retaliation. How do you act when, despite all your hard work, you just can’t get someone to agree with your way of thinking? Of course, we don’t go around saying God has given us “special abilities” to see the error in other people’s ways, we would look like hypocrites, but do we go around acting like we have been given those “special abilities”? We don’t usually ask ourselves what the situation might look like if we actually walked in someone else’s shoes for a day because that might make us feel unworthy to even have an opinion. Our limited understanding of what others have been through and why they act the way they do should disable our opinions, not promote them, despite how they act or what they do.
Suffering for doing right is one of the hardest kinds of suffering that we can go through. It puts our will and our desire on the back burner. It’s the suffering you feel when you carry another’s burden, kind of like Jesus did but to a much smaller degree. 1 Peter 2:22-23 tells us “He never sinned, nor ever deceived anyone. 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.” (NLT) What is your case today? Has someone taken advantage of you or someone you love? Has someone that you love gone down the wrong path leaving you feeling helpless and distant? Do you look anything like Jesus when others hurt you or refuse to respond to you? Many of us do not. We don’t usually leave our case in the hands of God, who always judges fairly, we tend to take up our case and try to deal with it ourselves. We often neglect the fact that we have been given the ability to follow in Christ’s footsteps by the power of the Holy Spirit. Scripture teaches us that He loved the ones who hated Him and prayed for those who pierced Him. We are also told in 1 Peter 2:24 “He personally carried our sins in His body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right.” (NLT) Grace and mercy will make all the difference. It will turn things around and it opens the door for restoration and brings freedom to all our relationships. Next time you have the opportunity to show grace and mercy, take it! Follow the Lord’s example and leave your case in God’s hands and experience the ability to let go and love on a whole new level.
Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. ~1 John 4:11 (NLT)
Do you look anything like Jesus when others hurt you or refuse to respond to you? Who are you prepping to get straight and who are you praying for?
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