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Summing Up

 

Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. For,

“Whoever would love life
    and see good days
must keep their tongue from evil
    and their lips from deceitful speech.
They must turn from evil and do good;
    they must seek peace and pursue it.
For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous
    and his ears are attentive to their prayer,
but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”[1] (I Peter 3:8-12)

 

          Let’s sum up. What is submission? It’s being like-minded instead of superior. It’s being sympathetic instead of judgmental. It’s loving one another, not hating. It’s being compassionate, not condemning. It’s being humble, not arrogant. It’s not repaying evil with evil but loving those who hate us. It’s not casting insults (ad hominems) but dealing with issues. It’s blessing when we feel like cursing. It’s being the sort of people we keep telling others they should be.

          In other words, submission, loving, being a good person, being a Christian, pleasing God, it all comes from doing what doesn’t come naturally to us. And, it’s doing what doesn’t come naturally to us in response to people who do to us what comes naturally to them.

          This can be done in some very simple ways to start. In the passage Peter quotes from the Psalms, it talks about keeping our tongues from evil and our lips from deceitful speech. This brings to mind the way I answered greetings that inquired about my well-being for years. I used to say things like, “I’m here,” or “I’m alive.” One day, possibly as the result of some positive mental attitude books I have read, it occurred to me that my answer really had nothing to do with my circumstances. I answered the same way out of habit, no matter how I felt. It cost me nothing to choose to develop another habit. I decided I couldn’t tell people, “I’m wonderful,” because that’s a judgment they have to make for themselves, but I could tell them, “I’m doing wonderfully.” And that’s my habitual response now. My second habitual response is, “I don’t know yet. I’ll tell you when I figure it out.”

      Pick a small change to make. It will only be the beginning, but it’s a beginning.


[1] Psalm 34:12-16

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