Enduring while Suffering Unjustly (1Peter 2:18-20)

ENDURING WHILE SUFFERING UNJUSTLY (1Peter 2:18-20): 

Peter continues saying the believers to live as servants of God. He says that the believers who had come to the knowledge of God must realize that He is just and righteous to judge everyone according to their deeds. Peter encourages the believers, who are servants to subject to their masters. Most of the believers of Peter’s period may not be rich men of that regimen but they were very simple and ordinary men, thereby they would have been under some earthly masters. Peter says them to subject themselves to the masters as they had directly or indirectly taken the responsibility upon themselves. They ought to fulfill the work they had been given and they had taken.  The Masters may not be good, gentle, wise, and upright always, the masters may also be rude, demanding, irrational, and unjust. Peter says the believers to subject to their earthly masters for God amid their goodness or badness, as God is the master of everyone. God knows everyone individually and He wants everyone to do their part that pleases Him whether they are masters or servants, He will provide justice accordingly.

It is very difficult for a person whomsoever it is, to endure suffering without any valid reason. Peter says the believers to suffer and endure for doing good as it is the gracious thing in the sight of God. God calls the believers to show the right path to the whole world by being patient at all the circumstances which don’t make them go astray from God. God fights for the people who are powerless when they depend on Him and follow His commands. Being mindful of God alone, one can endure sorrows while suffering unjustly. The Believers also need to be alert when it is needed to suffer unjustly, it is not suffering from denying God or God’s commands at any time, but for obeying the master’s voice. Believers need to make a strong decision for choosing a career that is God-pleasing, valuable, and worthy while subjecting themselves as servants. The Servants should tolerate the overburden, false accusations, impatience, favoritism, unkindness, improper wages, etc. that the masters could entertain upon their servants.

Throughout the Bible and history of mankind, every people had faced the consequences for all their actions. When they do good by following the commandments of God; honor, praise, joy or peace follow them. At the same time when people commit some mistakes or disobey God’s commands, there are pestilences that follow. Peter says with a rhetorical question that there will not be any credit when we face the consequence of sin that may be getting the beatings. Everyone should endure, it as it is because of what we had sown. He repeats saying that if the believers endure and suffer for doing good, it is the gracious thing in the sight of God. The Believers are obliged to do good works at all the circumstances of life amid others being good or bad to them. 

Stimulations for Self-Reflection

1.      Who should subject themselves to whom?

2.      How the servants need to subject to masters?

3.      What kind of masters, servants need to subject to?

4.      Why servants need to subject to unjust masters?

5.      How servants can subject to unjust masters?

6.      How does it look in the sight of God when servants suffer unjustly?

7.      Do we have any credit when we suffer for sin? Why?

8.      Why it is a gracious thing before God when believing servants suffer unjustly?

9.      How we can apply the instructions of servants towards our earthly masters?

10.  How we can be good to both just and unjust masters?