Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For we have no continuing city here, but we seek one to come.
Select a thought to read by choosing a collection, the month, and then the day:
“About four years ago, I put a piece of notebook paper in my Bible on which to write down things said during the meetings that really stood out to me.”
Rebekah Joy
“With the attitude of a servant, you can never be insulted.”
Paul could not be insulted because he was, in his own words, “dead”. And he encouraged the saints to believe they were dead as well. Have you ever railed against and reviled and ridiculed a man lying in a casket about to be buried, just to see what kind of reaction he would have? If you have tried that, you no doubt learned that dead people don’t seem to care much about what you said to them. Neither do those who are “buried in baptism” with Christ.
It is the same way with those who have the mind of Christ, or what I call “the attitude of a servant”. “Let this mind be in you”, wrote Paul, “which was also in Christ Jesus.” With that mind, we can do as Jesus did when the world hates us: “not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing, but on the contrary, blessing.” “For you were called to this, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should walk in his footsteps, who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth; who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not, but committed himself to Him who judges uprightly.” This is genuine humility, a real death to sin that is unavailable to man except through Christ.
If you are being tormented by some sarcastic or insulting person, the problem is not with the offender; it is with you. You’re not dead enough yet. Go ahead, receive the mind of Christ and die! Then you can rest in peace while the world goes on doing what it has always foolishly done to the upright.