21 For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, 22 who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth; 23 and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously; 24 and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed. 25 For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.
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Ever bought a used car and realized a few weeks later that you got a lemon? Ever drop ten bucks on a movie that made last summer's home video of your family vacation look like The Sound of Music? Who hasn't been hoodwinked by a smooth- talking salesman in a striped suit with styled hair and patent leather shoes? And who hasn't been burned by a glitzy political campaign that promised much more than it delivered?
Common rip- offs like these occur relatively often and are easy to recover from. It's much more difficult to endure when the suffering gets personal. If you've ever been the brunt of a raw deal, then you're in good company. David was done wrong by Saul; Esau was cheated by Jacob; Joseph was brutalized by his brothers; and Job got a raw deal in body and soul, visible and invisible! Of course, being numbered among the ranks of David, Esau, Joseph, and Job isn't all that great when it means being treated unjustly.
When someone slanders our reputation, gossips behind our back, or threatens our livelihood, things can get pretty nasty. In my experience, our knee- jerk reactions to unfair treatment generally fall into one of three categories. First, we may adopt the aggressive pattern of blaming others, focusing on the person who did us wrong and doing whatever it takes to exact revenge. Second, we may embrace a passive pattern of feeling sorry for ourselves, becoming absorbed in self- pity and whining constantly about our plight. Third, we may slip into a holding pattern of postponing feelings, placing our emotions on the back burner, and seething beneath a calm surface.
All these natural reactions make sense from a human standpoint, don't they? But that's all they are- natural and human. The apostle Peter offers a supernatural and divine alternative to these typical human responses. Let me warn you, though. Peter's stout examples of unjust treatment probably outweigh most of our