** …Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you (John 15:13-15).**
As Christians, we’re more than servants of righteousness or God’s favoured creatures; we’re joint-heirs with Christ. We’re literally, and vitally, born of God, with His life in our spirits. That makes us one with Him.
Some Christians haven’t really understood the actual reason Jesus came to the earth. He didn’t come to save us from sin; that was a means to an end. He came to give us life, so that with that life in us, we could be in fellowship with God. It would have been wonderful for us just to be His servants or His favoured creatures, but He chose to bring us into fellowship; into oneness with Himself. This divine comradeship is bigger than what the natural mind can conceive, and that’s why many still stumble at it.
How could man, with all his natural frailties and foibles become one with God? But it’s what Jesus accomplished for us; it’s the reason for His vicarious death. He brought us into the fellowship of the God-kind.
Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you* (Luke 6:28). Never find yourself offended or losing your
cool over the attitude of others towards you. It makes no difference if they mistreat you or take undue advantage of you; maintain the right attitude of love. Someone else’s bad attitude should never change your good behaviour. If anyone has a bad attitude, that’s their problem, but your responsibility is to walk in love towards all.
Some people make “new year resolutions,” part of which is a list of people whom they claim offended them, perhaps, in the previous year, and have decided never to talk to them or relate with them anymore. This is wrong. There shouldn’t ever be people or someone you don’t like or decide never to talk to, irrespective of what they may have done to you. The Word tells us to seek peace and pursue it (1 Peter 3:11). God never promised that we’ll be well treated by everybody. You may not be treated right; you may not be treated the way you want or think you deserve to be treated; that’s not what’s important! What’s
important is your response in whatever circumstances you find yourself; that’s where the blessing really is. If you respond negatively, because someone treated you badly, you’ll get in trouble with the Lord.