Dead men take no offence

I am not suggesting that you do this, but if you were to punch a dead man laying in his coffin, or if you were to heap verbal abuse on him, calling him all manner of names - he would not retaliate in like manner. You know it’s true! The Scriptures says of Jesus “When they heaped abuse on Him, He did not retaliate; when He suffered, He made no threats, but entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly” (1 Peter 2:23). He is the only one I know who fully practiced what He preached. As they drove cruel spikes into His hands and feet, His response was "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). I am not quite there yet, but I want to be, how about you?!

Perhaps you are thinking “Well that was Jesus, and He could do that because He is God. But I am only human, and so I can’t be expected to do that.” If this is your thinking, I am sorry to have to tell you that your thoughts are heretical. I mean if Jesus could only do what He did because He was God, then we can applaud Him, but we could not be expected to imitate His example. We are however commanded to “be imitators of God” (Ephesians 5:1). So how can we possibly do this? Well, interestingly, Jesus Himself had to learn it. In particular as a Spirit filled man “He learned obedience by the things that He suffered” (Hebrews 5:8). He did it perfectly of course, but what does the process look like? It seems to me it is incorporated in the verse “Reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:11).

I have a friend who was very shabbily treated by the church, and though he does not seem to be bitter, he does tend to obsess. I have been there myself! One time when he was going on and on about the shortcomings of the church, he finally told me “I expect better!” I asked him “How is that working for you?” Among all of creation, mankind alone has the ability to think about his (or her) thoughts. And with this comes the ability to choose what we think about. In particular in every situation we can learn to choose how we respond. We deny this however, when we say things like “He makes me mad!” Now it is true that when we have engaged in negative thinking for a very long time, it takes a lot of effort and determination to think only about “what is true, noble, just and of good report” (Philippians 4:8). However, when by the Spirit, we choose to put our negative thinking to death, we will find increasingly that we can do all thing through Christ who strengthens us (Romans 8:13; Philippians 4:13).

Father, I want to thank You this morning again that with Your help I am learning to no longer obsess about things that previously nearly drove me insane. Part of it Lord, is that I spend time in Your presence, and practice, practice, practice. Thank You that in line with my oft prayed twelve-step serenity prayer, I am learning to receive Your peace and serenity to accept what I cannot change, together with the courage to engage when You need me to, but also to know the difference. It is a process Lord, and there are certainly times when I fail. But thank You for progress, and thank You for the forgiveness and cleansing that You so freely give when we confess. Freely I have received, help me Lord to freely give of these things to others, as You continue to transform me into the glorious likeness of Him in whose Name I pray Amen