Living With Others
19
when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if,
when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable
with God.”
1 Peter 2:20
.
Do not retaliate. So far as you can do so, remove all cause for
misapprehension. Avoid the appearance of evil. Do all that lies in your
power, without the sacrifice of principle, to conciliate others. “If thou
bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath
aught against thee; leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way;
first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.”
Matthew 5:23, 24
.
If impatient words are spoken to you, never reply in the same spirit.
Remember that “a soft answer turneth away wrath.”
Proverbs 15:1
.
[27]
And there is wonderful power in silence. Words spoken in reply to one
who is angry sometimes serve only to exasperate. But anger met with
silence, in a tender, forbearing spirit, quickly dies away.
Under a storm of stinging, faultfinding words, keep the mind stayed
upon the word of God. Let mind and heart be stored with God’s
promises. If you are ill-treated or wrongfully accused, instead of
returning an angry answer, repeat to yourself the precious promises:
“Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.”
Romans
12:21
.
“Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in Him; and He shall
bring it to pass. And He shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light,
and thy judgment as the noonday.”
Psalm 37:5, 6
.
“There is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid,
that shall not be known.”
Luke 12:2
.
“Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads; we went through
fire and through water: but Thou broughtest us out into a wealthy
place.”
Psalm 66:12
.
We are prone to look to our fellow men for sympathy and uplifting,
instead of looking to Jesus. In His mercy and faithfulness God often
permits those in whom we place confidence to fail us, in order that we
may learn the folly of trusting in man and making flesh our arm. Let
[28]
us trust fully, humbly, unselfishly in God. He knows the sorrows that
we feel to the depths of our being, but which we cannot express. When
all things seem dark and unexplainable, remember the words of Christ,
“What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter.”
John
13:7
.