Defense in Faith

We often ask, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” “If someone does something to me, shouldn’t I have the right to repay them?” We will inevitably encounter that mean person who slanders us, that jealous person who publicly humiliates us, or that pretentious person who declares himself as a friend only to be exposed as a user. Shouldn’t we be angry and want to retaliate? What did we ever do to them to warrant such bad behavior? Nothing. When we stop to think about it, what did Jesus do to deserve persecution? Nothing. As Christians,  how should we respond? How we choose to respond is what is on public display. To seek revenge makes those watching question our faith. To do nothing makes us angry. We must remember that being a Christian does not exempt us from challenges, hurtful times, or life disruptions. What we have learned is how we should react.

Peter wrote his first letter because he knew believers were being persecuted. He had witnessed the persecution of Jesus, and he had also suffered persecution because he believed. Remember that bad things do not always happen to bad people. Peter’s letter was to give instructions on how believers should handle persecution. “Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.” Peter knew that we would be challenged and our level of persecution would not be comparable to that of Jesus, but our responses should represent who we are and to whom we belong.

1. We are to be being like-minded in pursuing the same goals, ideas, and attitudes.
2. We are to be responsive to each other’s needs.
3. We are to love one another as brothers and sisters in Christ.
4. We are to be in tune with the needs of others and show compassion towards one another.
5. We are to show humility by being encouragers of one another.

Ask yourself which of these is the most difficult. If we’re human, our first response to any challenge is to fight back mentally, physically, or verbally because we are in defense mode. It is so easy in our flesh to respond in this way. We retaliate out of anger, hurt, or humiliation, and it is also about bruised egos and pride. But Peter tells us that bad things happen to good people, but we are called to be different. Suppose we were in defense mode responding through our faith. These are the moments when our actions speak the loudest, and our faith is shown to others.

In a challenging situation, our friends may tell us that we need to fight, or we should “cuss” that person out, humiliate them in front of a crowd letting everybody know who won that battle. Easy enough. Before we take that approach, remember what Peter said in 1 Peter 3:10-12: For, “Whoever would love life and see good days must keep their tongue from evil and their lips from deceitful speech. They must turn from evil and do good; they must seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”The dangerous thing about the tongue is that what we allow to come out can never be returned. We can ask forgiveness for what we have said, but the memory of it exists forever. One of the best cures for this situation is to say nothing. Silence is truly golden sometimes.

When I was a student teacher, I encountered the nastiest attitude from a child in seventh grade. My thought was that she was too young to be so nasty. She had no problem telling students what she wanted them to know. This student would tell other students if she liked them, if their mother was pretty or ugly, if they smelled, or if their clothes were dirty. You get the picture. In the middle of class one day, she picked her prey: a quiet, young man who sat in the corner. She loudly exclaimed, “You don’t wear name-brand clothes. Your clothes come from K-mart. That’s because you are poor.” She continued to sneer at him with a look of disgust. The cooperating teacher and I were astonished at her audacity. We also knew that this was a situation that needed to be handled carefully and appropriately. By now the entire class had gone silent, and all eyes were on the young man. In what seemed like an eternity of silence, he looked at the girl and said nothing. It reminded me of how Jesus was questioned and mocked, and yet He said nothing. `Not getting a solicited response, she said, “It’s a shame that your parents can’t afford to put you in name-brand clothes.” What a moment!

Once again the young man looked at her and said, “My father is a preacher, and he has taught my family that name-brand clothes mean nothing. It is what we do with our hearts for others that matter. I don’t worry about buying clothes from Kmart because they are just as good as what you’re wearing. I am trying to go to Heaven. What are you trying to do?” It was a drop-the-mic moment. The female student scowled as her surrounding classmates told her how mean she was to people. Somewhere in this young man’s life, he was taught how to be silent and curtail his tongue. He was quite comfortable because he knew that the Lord was watching and listening to him, as well as, the female student. We witnessed a child who had enough self-control to not curse or walk over and punch the student who humiliated him in front of an audience.

It is in moments like these that we have to be unified and trust in God. Life is not without challenges or hard times, but our response to it all represents our defense of our faith.

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