The Mirror of the Word and other works by C.E. White can be purchased on her website, cewhitebooks.com or on Amazon.

“And while being abusively insulted, he did not insult in return; while suffering, he did not threaten, but kept entrusting himself to him who judges righteously.”

—1 Peter 2:23

Our flesh wants to defend our rights, to fight back, to take up the sword as Peter did in the Garden of Gethsemane.

But Jesus never got angry over his own rights. He lived the words: “do not be afraid of those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul” (Matthew 10:28).

Reacting to injustice and suffering with calm peace as Jesus did can only be done by walking in the Spirit, not the flesh. This means we will be far more focused on the eternal than the earthly, even when the earthly circumstances threaten pain and danger.

And Jesus’s example shows that he lived much in prayer and communion with the Father, even through the moments of betrayal, agony, torture, separation from God, and death.

How much more should we do the same? Without this deep intimacy with the Lord, we risk a fleshly response to the enemy’s attacks.

Even when the world is unfriendly, dangerous, unjust, unfair, and even cruel, we don’t have to live in fear, and we don’t have to respond in anger. Earthly judges may fail us, but we can entrust our true, eternal selves to the God who judges righteously.

Before we respond with insults and threats or draw our worldly weapons, let’s check if we are in the Spirit or the flesh.

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