Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are harsh. For this finds favor, if for the sake of conscience toward God a person endures grief when suffering unjustly. For what credit is there if, when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience? But if when you do what is right and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God.
1 Peter 2:18-20
At some point in your career, you will be treated unfairly by a supervisor, a coworker, a customer, or maybe even a friend or family member—nevertheless, God sees. With Christ as our example of what it means to suffer for what is right, saints are instructed to endure unfair and harsh treatment. This is easier said than done. When one is on the “right side of right,” it is difficult to endure unjust treatment with grace, yet we are told that God is watching and that enduring with a heart of submission (not lip service) finds favor with God.
Thankfully, the call to endure is to a specific end. That end includes your maturity and your advancement in earthly and kingdom affairs. God uses our struggles as sandpaper to smooth out our rough edges. Here are a few questions that can help give you perspective and shift the optics of your situation to how God may want to use it:
- How might God use this situation for my good and the good of those involved?
- Is God using my example to sow the seed of the Gospel into this person’s life?
- What is the other person going through that may be driving their behavior?
- If suffering for what is right is short-term, how will God use the fruit of my submission long-term?
- With God watching as I endure, what is His opinion of how I am enduring under this unjust treatment?
REFLECT TO CONNECT
- Whom do you know that submits to authority when treated unjustly?
- In what ways can you help another who is enduring a difficult situation?
- If you shift your focus from your suffering to God’s pleasure, what comes to mind?
Seasoned saints see past harsh treatment, knowing that God uses difficult circumstances as sandpaper to smooth out rough edges.
