Though They Accuse You of Doing Wrong

                 Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. (II Peter 2:11-12)

                “Even though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God…”? Huh? When Peter wrote this, the Roman Emperor was considered (at least by himself) to be a god. To refuse to acknowledge him as such was considered evil. People were permitted to worship other gods, too, but the emperor had to be among them. Many cities had their own patron gods, such as Diana of the Ephesians. Again, you could worship other gods, too, but if the city’s patron god was not among them, you were to blame if anything bad happened. Some people considered the Lord's Supper to be cannibalism. Christians taught that the various classes on which the Roman Empire functioned were null and void within the Church.

                Things aren’t that different today. Christians are being martyred around the world, most notably in Muslim countries. Even in the United States, if Christians don’t worship the cultural gods of the day, whether abortion, the LGBTQ+ concept, the idea that if your skin is light, you’re a racist, Socialism, the theory of evolution, scientism (as distinct from science), celebrities, or whatever, they are declared to be evil. That explains the “though they accuse you of doing wrong” part.

                Now, let’s look at the “see your good deeds and glorify God…” part. I’m not sufficiently a historian to know everything the early Christians did, but Scripture includes many commandments that would lead others to recognize their goodness. They were not to murder, steal, covet, bear false witness, or commit adultery. They were to love their neighbors as themselves and to love their enemies. They were commanded to be good citizens so far as that didn’t interfere with their Christianity. They took care of the widows in their midst who otherwise had no one to do so. They were reported as taking in babies and children who were abandoned to die by their families. They were also described as going to the homes of victims of epidemics, knowing they would likely die of the disease, but determined to care for the sick. They put most of us to shame.

                But if we cannot lay claim to such lofty goodness, let us at least start somewhere and do what we can, with what we have, where we are now. At least, let us present ourselves to God as His servants, and ask Him to do good in and through us. Do the good that is before you, without battering yourself for not doing some impressive feat. Better the good that you can do than the regret of the good you can not.