Our culture puts much focus on our rights. America was founded with the promise of religious freedom without government control, and this has been a great nation as long as we have acknowledged God. But there is no biblical promise that Christians should always have the right to this freedom in their country. God Himself gives us the freedom to choose Him or not to choose Him. But even Jesus told His disciples in Matthew 10 and Luke 12 that persecution of the Christian would come.
When we choose God, He does promise us peace in our hearts and minds as in Philippians 4:7, “And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
Colossians 3:15a says, “And let the peace of God rule in your hearts.” This peace is something we can have because of Christ and from Christ, and we can have it in any situation no matter how just or unjust. This is easier said than done, and is a matter of practice, of constantly trusting our fears and worries to God.
We try to protect ourselves and others from any kind of abuse or injustice, but the truth is, pretty much everyone will experience some type of abuse in life. It is part of life. It may come from an evil person, or a misguided person, or as a straight attack from Satan. It often comes from the least expected source and often because we are imperfect sinners.
A missionary in Papua New Guinea named Darlene Diebler Rose had a close and personal relationship with her Heavenly father. She asked God one day why He would allow her to face the suffering she was enduring while in a Japanese POW camp during WWII. She shares in her testimony that His answer was simply so that she could come forth as gold (Job 23:10).
Did you, like me, grow up with the mindset that we should always be protected, and no one should ever do wrong against us? It took years for me to realize that this is actually not a realistic mindset about life. God will sometimes allow us to experience pain and abuse. We cannot always know His specific reason for this, but sometimes it is to refine us or mold us into a person that can serve Him in a greater capacity. While it’s never God’s will for someone to sin, He can take the destruction and hurt and heal it in a way that He can use for the furtherance of His kingdom.
Most Christian marriages have had their times when one spouse mistreated the other in some way. We’re all flawed. Most of us have treated our spouse and been treated by our spouse in a way that the world would label as abuse. Or maybe this was the case with a friend or sibling even. Perhaps even our parents have done this.
When you realize that this is the case, you have a choice. Are you going to stand up for your “rights” and label your spouse (or other close person) as the enemy and cut them off? Or are you going to accept that this person is a sinner (just as much as you are), forgive them, and choose to focus on what you can change about yourself. How can you use your pain to further God’s Kingdom? Which mindset would God’s Word teach us to have? It is true that when people hurt us, it’s often because of their own hurt in the past. Sometimes we know the possible source of their behavior and sometimes we don’t, but we don’t have to know why to trust God. “Lean not unto thine own understanding” (Prov 3:5b).
See Part II of this article here.
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