What should you do when you feel unfairly treated or wrongly accused?

Good question, right? If you're reading this and you're a Christian, you probably are thinking about things that you shouldn't do. But what happens when you don't have time to prepare? I tend to fight for myself. Is this bad? No. Not really. But how you go about defending yourself might be bad. I try to think, "how would Christ want me to act and what would He want me to say/do?" Well, okay, that is a good start . . . but what happens after the fact? It's all laid out in the open and, to be honest, you feel that you could never be around that person again. All is forgiven, but things will NEVER be the same. 

I was thinking today about Job and his trials. He went through so much. His children died, he had sickness, and maybe worst of all, his friends failed him. If you don't have any friends, what are you going to do, right? Well, Job handled it very well. He didn't give up and die. He didn't curse God . . . even when everyone around him (including his wife) told him to. Even though all of this happened, Job still said, "but he (God) knows the way that I take; when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold."

I was also thinking about I Peter 2:19-24 which talks about Christ's suffering on the cross. Verse 23 says, "when he (Christ) was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him (God) who judges justly." Christ went through far worse. The trials that I go through aren't so bad in comparison. At least I have Someone who is there to hold me up when I am treated wrongly. I don't go through it alone. And in the end, those who have wrongly accused others, will be held accountable for it. 

The hardest part of this blog post comes right here. The Bible tells us in Luke 6:27-28, "love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you." This is probably the hardest commandment given. It's certainly one that I struggle with the most. How can you love someone who has treated you so poorly? Sometimes praying for that person is the last thing that I want to do. But it's commanded. Christ showed His love for me by dying on the cross for the wrong things that I have done. He loved me even though there were times when I was younger where I tried to fit in with the "cool kids" at school. He loves me even when I don't talk to Him or when I carelessly forget His Word. Why can't I love those who have wrongly accused me? It's simple, I guess I just forgot to ask for His help. You can be certain that I won't forget Him anymore! He is my life and He is my all! 

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted." Hebrews 12:1-3