Born This Way

Despite its brevity – only 105 verses in all – much of the material in First Peter is the stuff of basic Christian teaching. 

Peter states his reason for writing: to encourage his readers, who were facing persecution for their faith, to stand firm.  Christians back then were persecuted after Nero blamed them for the burning of Rome.

What I’m most intrigued with , however, is I Peter 2:19: “For one is approved if, mindful of God, he (or she) endures pain … while suffering unjustly.”

That’s a condition we’re all too familiar with, one that afflicts LGBT people … as well as everyone born with an identity or status that society despises or deems inferior – through no fault or credit of our own.

As Peter states, “What credit is it, if when you do wrong and are beaten for it, you take it patiently?  But if, when you do right and suffer for it, you take it patiently … you have God’s approval!”

Most of us have suffered simply because we were born this way … through no fault of our own.  Try as we might, we cannot deny who we are or to whom we’re attracted. 

We’re not doing wrong; we’re just being the loving people God created us to be.

We’re simply coming out of the closet as Christians.

We can – and should – rest confidently, because God has approved our conduct … even if other people – or those whose religion is too narrow to accept us – don’t.

Back in Peter’s day, the position of a household slave was tenuous … subject to the character, position, and even moods of the owner.  And often, simply because they weren’t considered “full people,” slaves suffered, despite their goodness and righteous conduct.

We, too, can expect that our behavior will draw derision and undeserved hate from the people of our day who condemn and deny us because they believe that they own the Word of God and control its interpretation.

In one of the earliest books of the Bible, Job asks a question that haunts us to this day: Why do the righteous suffer? 

Nothing seems more intolerable than undeserved suffering.  But, as Peter reminds us, when we turn our eyes and cry out to Jesus, this bitterness is lessened somewhat.  After all, who here can compare our own suffering with what Jesus endured … quietly and without scorn or retaliation?

Selma Fraiberg, a 20^th century U.S. child psychoanalyst, wrote this in her 1959 book, The Magic Years:

“The two-year-old loves deeply, tenderly, extravagantly … and he holds the love of his parents more dearly than anything in the world.  He wants to be good so that he can love himself.  That is what we mean, later, by self-esteem.”

None of us here is two-years-old … though, sometimes, we may stubbornly act that way. J  But, in a sense, the same can be said of us:

While we no longer need to earn God’s love – that’s unconditional, a free gift we call "grace" – as God’s children, made in our Creator’s image, we want to be good … to be approved … by ourselves, our relations, and our holy God who grants nothing less for us.