"Restraint"

 "Jesus answered him, If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil: but is well, why smitest thou me?" (John 18:23 KJV)

  "Of course, you get no credit for being beaten for doing wrong. But is you suffer for doing good and endure it patiently, God is pleased with you. For God called you to do good, even if it means suffering, just a Christ suffered for you. He is your example, and you must follow in his steps." (1 Peter 2:20-21 NLT)

 Hopefully you did not misunderstand my post yesterday; I was waiting for the opportunity to get some things off my chest, so I saw my opportunity and took it. Having said that, I have nothing against anyone that has been led into the wrong direction, as I too lived several years of my life, going in the wrong direction! If not for the grace of God, I would still be messed up and lost, living in some alternate life, away from God! 

 I do, however, have great disrespect for those that try to convince vulnerable children that they are something that they are not, just because they might have the power to change the way that they feel about themselves. That is nothing less than evil, and evil should not be what teaching children is about! I can tell you, that you are by what you think or imagine, but that is not true! We are born in sin; therefore, we have many things we think or imagine, most of which we will never really actually do! 

 As we witness this encounter, between Jesus and the guard, it is pretty obvious that Jesus did not turn His face, offering His other check for another slap. Instead, He held His peace, and stayed humble, but with purpose! This is the example that Peter is referring to, because it is the Lord's way, therefore it must be that way for us! How often do we mess up with this kind of restraint?

 Maybe at least a dozen times a week, if I was counting! Fortunately, I pray for God to forgive me every night; so, if He no longer holds it against me, I tend to not try and mark it down and keep record of it. That doesn't mean that I don't remember that wrong that I did, it just means that I don't allow it to be something that God will judge me for, because once we give it to Him, we are free from it! 

 But! Ouch, and ouch again; we will be most likely to suffer consequences for the wrong things that we do, that much is the circle of life, under the sun! We will be all squared away with God, and so we can have peace about that, but what happens from the wrong we have done, is still part of this life. 

 That is pretty much what Peter was getting at, because if we have done any wrong, then we cannot claim that we have been wrongfully punished, if we end up getting punished in this world for any wrong, we have done; it pretty much comes with the territory. But if we are being punished for doing good, then that punishment counts towards our favor, maybe not so much from this world, but from God! 

 If that doesn't make perfect sense, then you need to see it from another point of view: What happens here on earth, stays on earth; but what happens in Heaven, is kept in Heaven! God forgives us for all of our sins, but as sad as it might be, those sins still remain on earth!

 Anywho, I got distracted by regret! So let me finish this correctly. Jesus could have easily just breathed out fire to consume the guard that slapped Him; but that was not what He did: instead, He retrained the power that He had, letting the Father be judge, making it the will of the Father first, not anything to do with what He might want; even though He did or did not want, it wasn't His time to fight! 

 This was about Him being the Lamb of God, weak and lowly, led to the slaughter! That is pretty much the point, just in case you might not be listening: Whatever our Father wants, is what must be done! That is what kind of example Jesus set, and that is what we must follow...

"Therefore, since we have been made right in God's sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God's glory. We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trails, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with love." (Romans 5:1-5 NLT)