“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.” (1 Peter 2:23, NIV)
To be Christian is to be like Christ.
Peter provides two clear, practical, snapshots of what it means to be like Christ: Ignoring insults from the “haters”; and making no threat against the agents of suffering and pain.
According to the scriptures, in his early years as a disciple of Jesus, Peter immediately responded to every insult and vigorously engaged every opponent. Through faithful discipleship over time, however, Peter became less like “Peter,” and more like his master, Jesus.
To grow in maturity as a Christian means to become more and more like Jesus, as in never allowing the devil and his agents to interfere in our relationship with our heavenly Father. The adversary, the devil, prefers that we “step outside” of God’s promises for our future and His commandments; and he will do all that he can to either provoke or to persuade us to abandon our Father’s will and our Father’s way. Don’t take the bait!
A measure of our maturity is the degree to which we are willing to entrust ourselves in all things “to him who judges justly.” – Luther
