A few weeks ago my husband and I were locked in a conflict that lasted for days. Each of us wanted the other person to understand our own perspective and neither of us were making any progress. After a few days of increasing frustration, I finally took the matter to our Heavenly Father which is what we both should have done to start with.
I repented for my anger and asked the Holy Spirit to show me what was going on, praying for revelation; “If I am in the right please reveal it to my husband, and if he is in the right please reveal it to me!”.
After some time, the Holy Spirit led me to a verse written by the Apostle Peter.
“While being reviled and insulted, He did not revile or insult in return; while suffering, He made no threats [of vengeance], but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges fairly.” 1 Peter 2:23
The Holy Spirit convicted me so wonderfully and powerfully, really making me consider these four words; What would Jesus do?
Suddenly I saw that I didn’t need to argue my point any longer. God sees all things, and all I had to do was trust him to fairly judge and deliver verdict on the situation.
Jesus, while being beaten, whipped, slandered, accused, abused, and whilst he suffered upon that cross; when everyone would have understood if he had retaliated, He didn’t revile, insult or threaten. He continued in peace, and in love. Fully entrusting himself to the Lord God. Jesus endured all that suffering and did not retaliate.
Lockdown has presented a fair few challenges and I’m certain that our home is not the only one to have faced them. How much time and energy could we could we save if we all consider what Jesus would do in any of our challenging situations?
Even when every bit of our flesh wants to yell and retaliate, we must exercise self control and lean into God. If Jesus can do this at the peak of his suffering for us, then don’t we owe it to him to try our best to do the same?
Emma Fenderman
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