Unjust Suffering

Unjust Suffering

God is pleased with you when, for the sake of your conscience, you patiently endure unfair treatment. This suffering is all part of what God has called you to. Christ, who suffered for you, is your example. Follow in his steps. –1 Peter 2:19, 21

It is one thing to submit to God, and that is hard enough. Submission enters a whole other league when you are called to submit to an incompetent boss, an unbelieving spouse, an immoral government, or an immature pastor. It is hard to believe that God expects this radical, even ridiculous, submission from us. But he does.

Peter spoke to this, telling Christian slaves how they should respond to an abusive, unbelieving master. The very image engenders feelings of resistance in us, doesn’t it? We recoil at the idea of unreasonable and abusive people taking advantage of us or anyone else. Being mistreated without fighting back makes us appear weak, and we hate that. For us to submit to unfair treatment, God will have to be at work in us, because it doesn’t come naturally.

Peter says we patiently endure unfair treatment so that our conscience is clear before God and because we want to please God (1 Peter 2:19). Why is he pleased? Submission to unfair treatment reflects utter reliance on the grace of God as well as unfettered obedience to his call. Suffering unjustly in this world is not a coincidence if you are a Christian. It is your calling. It is the way you make Christ real to people. This is what Jesus did—he showed us how to submit to unjust suffering.

Peter seemed to assume in these verses that it is God’s plan for his people to suffer unjustly. In fact, he repeated himself later in his letter, writing, “It is better to suffer for doing good, if that is what God wants” (3:17). What God wants? God wants me to suffer injustice and unfair abuse? Why would he want that? Because he knows that as you and I graciously bear seemingly unbearable suffering by trusting God, we bring glory to God. We can be certain that God’s glory will one day blaze from his seat of justice, but until then, he may choose to give the world glimpses of his glory through our patient, God-dependent endurance of unfair treatment. As we surrender our pride and seek to serve, the world is amazed and God is pleased.

My Example in suffering and submission, I want to follow in your steps, though I must admit I’m afraid of what it will cost me. Knowing my submission will please you gives me courage and increases my faith.

DIGGING DEEPER