“Not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing.”
knowing that you were called to this,
“Knowing” – It is important to know that God calls us to bless people who verbally abuse us. We base our behavior on the Bible.
If we do not know what the Bible teaches about how to react to people, we will not behave right. What is proper for those without Christ is not necessarily proper for the Christian. It is a mistake to expect non-Christians to live with Christian ethics because they do not have the proper belief system for behavior. They do not have the indwelling Holy Spirit. They do have new life in Christ.
“That” – purpose clause. God has a purpose in calling Christian to such a mode of operation. God calls us to be a blessing to non-Christians.
“To this” – for this very purpose. The purpose of blessing those who verbally assault us is to represent our calling to non-Christians.
“Called” – at the point when we received Christ as Savior, God called us to a different world view. God calls us to inherit a blessing and that we should be a blessing. God expects the Christian to be different from those without Christ. He wants us to be different from anyone a non-Christian has ever met. We are the best Christian some non-Christians know. We may be the only Christian that some people know.
PRINCIPLE:
God calls the Christian because of his salvation to live a mature life before those without Christ.
APPLICATION:
Almost everyone is religious nowadays, but how many true Christians have people met? They need to come into contact with people who do not give tit for tat. They need to see mature reactions to verbal abuse. They need to observe how people can live above the low life of retaliation.
Non-Christians may not understand this initially, but they will come to know that it is Christ who makes the difference in your life. They have little confidence in Christians who claim regeneration, but their lives are no different than anyone else.
The way we prove we have come to know God personally is through our behavior. If we claim salvation but do not behave saved, no one will believe us. They will discount everything we say. Are we a blessing to our enemies? If not, we do not live up to our calling.
