I teach in a middle school, and if there's one thing I have learned, it's this: Adolescents crave justice. They want everything to be fair. Of course, their ideas about fairness don't always align with ours. What they believe is fair is sometimes wrong. They can't see the big picture and they may not be able to see beyond their own feelings, but they want justice. Whether they know how to define it or not is another question. Do you?
You know when you feel mistreated. You know when someone slights you. Justice must be served! Unfortunately, I frequently encounter adults who have never 'grown out' of this foolhardy pursuit of justice... those who have not learned to forsake themselves.
I'll let you in on a little secret. Inside a school, the backbiting, gossip, and cliques can be just as bad in the teachers' lounge as they are in the lunchroom.
Once upon a time I was working in a school where all teachers were arbitrarily divided into teams and given tasks to work toward a common goal. Each team was responsible for creating one display case or bulletin board to show what their team was accomplishing. Although some discussion had taken place regarding which bulletin board would be used by each team, no definitive list had been created. Therefore, when my team was ready to move forward and no one else had taken the prime posting space, we employed a bulletin board outside the cafeteria which had basically been unused for two months.
One week later, at the next regularly scheduled faculty meeting, a member of another team approached me about the bulletin board. She seemed offended, outraged, and just plain mad. That was their bulletin board we used. I apologized and offered to move our things. She insisted that she didn't want that. We had worked hard and should leave our board as it was. However, she continued to move around the room, having loud discussions with other key faculty members about this situation.
Now, personally, I thought the whole thing was ridiculous, but, in order to avoid further discord among my coworkers, I moved our display to a smaller bulletin board in a much less-traveled area of the school. When I met with my team again I informed them that I had moved our display and the issue was resolved. Some of them rolled their eyes. Others laughed. They asked me why I had bothered. I told them I just didn't want to be the cause of dissension. They laughed it off, shook their heads, and moved on.
Two weeks passed between faculty meetings. It was time for teams to report on progress. The bulletin board was still blank, but when that team stood to report the speaker said, 'We would have posted this already but someone took our bulletin board, so if they would be so nice as to move their stuff we will get that up soon.' Now, truthfully, I had a strong urge to declare loudly to the faculty at large, THE BULLETIN BOARD HAS BEEN BLANK FOR TEN DAYS!! Instead I simply shook my head at my team members who were all whispering questions and raising eyebrows in my direction.
Although it would have assuaged our feelings of injustice, irritation, and embarrassment to stand up and set everyone straight on the bulletin board issue, it would not have served to honor anyone, certainly not God. And although this is a silly example of justice and not really an example of suffering at all, it is exactly the kind of situation one might encounter that provides an opportunity to make an important choice for the glory of God in her daily life. Because sharing the gospel is accomplished through discussion and service and many other things, but it's often shown best by living a life that consistently imitates Christ.
While reading 1 Peter tonight, I hovered over verses 18 through 21 of chapter 2. "...For it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God..." I'd like you to consider a possible application of this bit of scripture.
While the chapter goes on to discuss suffering for Christ's sake and His name, this particular passage is about slaves with harsh masters. It says that if one is "conscious of God," because he knows God, he should be willing to suffer poor treatment although he has done nothing wrong. Why? Because Christ set that example. Because it glorifies God. Because how we are perceived as believers is more important than our circumstances being fair.
What is fair, anyway? Fair would be us receiving punishment for our every sin. Praise God that life is Not Fair!
