1 Peter 2:18-23
Slaves, in reverent fear of God submit yourselves to your masters, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh. 19 For it is commendable if someone bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because they are conscious of God. 20 But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. 21 To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.
22 “He committed no sin,
and no deceit was found in his mouth.”
and no deceit was found in his mouth.”
23 When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.
Apologies. We all get them and we all give them. The interesting thing is they all have a "but" in them. In other words they all include a justification of why this harmful thing was done. "I'm sorry, I said that to you; I know it was hurtful, but I felt betrayed so I lashed out..." "I shouldn't have acted that way but I was just having a bad day..." Have you ever given an apology without justifying your behavior? It's tough. Next time you apologize, try it.
Why do we do this? Tim Keller often talks about "conceit". In the KJV this is often translated as "vain glory". He makes the point that we all have "glory tanks" that are empty but need to be full. Worse than being hated, disliked, talked about - is being ignored. I'm convinced this is why people make so many outrageous nasty comments and replies on social media posts. Are the people that mean? Maybe, but I think they just want to be noticed and responded to. Internet trolling is just saying, "please fill my glory tank." We want to be noticed. We want to be significant. All of us deep down need to matter. I just watched a movie "The Avengers; Civil War". One scene has Tony Stark (Iron Man) walking past The Atom in a cell and saying "who are you?" That was the biggest insult he could give because we all want to be known. Therefore we fill this tanks or puff ourselves up with importance by using others, tearing down others, facebook statuses, blogs (ouch), getting ourselves in places of importance, etc.
How does this relate to this passage in Peter? Peter says that when you are mistreated, abused, wronged, harmed, ignored, bypassed, slandered, gossiped about, lied about, punched, accused wrongly - and we all have, you don't have to be a first century to 21st century slave to have experienced this- how should we handle this? Peter doesn't delve into a whole disortation on self defense, Christians and legal rights, etc. and these cases can be made. His point is - just take it. Are you able to do that? Why or why not? Could it be that people have punched holes in your "glory tank" and you need to plug them. Could these insults be pointing to the fact that you are getting your glory filled in a different way than Jesus was? How did Jesus do it? "He entrusted Himself to the One who judges justly." He got His glory in the Father.
In Philippians Paul says that Jesus came to Earth and emptied Himself of glory. In other words, because He was/is God, He is glory defined. Yet He gave up that glory so that you and I could be filled with His glory. Our glory tanks are filled with a never diminishing, leaking, or draining supply so that when people poke holes in us it doesn't matter. We don't need to prove our worth - we're worthy. We don't have to justify ourselves - we've been justified. Don't you think that a world desperately seeking glory would notice a person who isn't striving for it because they already have it. Don't you think that would make an impression? Don't you think they would want that? One word of caution - they might be so bothered by it that they might try to drive it out of you so you can be like them. I feel like this may be the reason why Christian kids get bullied in school quite often.
So the next time you apologize, try not to defend yourself. You don't need to save your dignity. You have a full tank of it.
Lord, help me to find my worth in You today, not in my position, money, what people say about me, what people think about me or my performance. Thank You that You left Heaven for Me because You love me and You think I am special. Help me glory in that today. Amen
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