1 Peter 2:18-20 “Submit yourselves to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh. For it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God … if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God.”
Unjust suffering is widespread across this fallen earth. The strong exploit the weak. And when the tables turn, those who were once exploited exact their revenge and injustices against the people they have overthrown. The cycle repeats – a merciless, joyless, cruel, and soul-destroying quest for power of one human over another. But Christians are to be utterly different. God wants us to give respect to authorities, bear up under unjust suffering, do good in the face of evil. I am capable of this when I understand that I am an alien and a stranger, that I have died to the old self and its demands, and that I can now live in and for Jesus Christ.
Father, please pour out your Spirit on this earth. Use me and all of your children as lights in the darkness, pointing the way to Jesus. We desperately need you.