2 Timothy 2:9
9 Wherein [en] [hos] I suffer trouble, [kakopatheo] as [hos] an evil doer, [kakourgos] even unto [mechri] bonds; [desmon] but [alla] the word [logos] of God [theos] is [deo] not [ou] bound. [deo] KJV-Interlinear
9 for which I suffer hardship even to imprisonment as a criminal; but the word of God is not imprisoned. NASB
Throughout history, people have suffered through insult and injury.
As sinful humanity, we are all guilty of sin and therefore with fault of one sort or another. Those who think they are somehow above sin and faults, are fools at best.
However, when we are wronged, or when we perceive to be wronged, we get upset and want revenge or satisfaction or something like that. We want those around us to know that we are being harassed unfairly, and so we make a big dramatic deal about the insult, whatever it is.
But we need to remember Jesus who went to the Cross. He was born perfect, lived perfect, and had no faults or taints or flaws of any kind whatsoever. And yet he was charged unfairly, whipped unfairly, spit on unfairly, cursed unfairly, gossiped about unfairly, mocked unfairly, ridiculed unfairly and on and on and on go the unfair behaviors of humanity against Him.
And yet He complained not even once. Why?
Because He was greater than those who insulted Him.
His life was greater than the insults that were thrown at Him.
His purpose was greater than the opinions of those who insulted Him.
His accomplishments were greater than the plans of humanity.
And so it is with Paul. He was imprisoned. He was not a perfect person by any means. Before being a Christian, he was a murder and a conspirator against Christians. Some might say that his past finally caught up with him. But such was not the case.
Christ died for his sins just as Christ died for all of your sins and mine.
Once saved, your sins are forgiven, expunged, scrubbed out and forgotten. So at the moment of your salvation, your past is wiped clean. But after salvation, you are still expected to live a perfect life (all of us fail at that), and then confess when you fail (most of us do not do that unfortunately), and otherwise grow up in your spiritual life.
With each confession, your sins are scrubbed away and forgotten, by God.
The world is however another matter.
People gossip and malign and are prejudiced and so forth. The criminal system has to run its due process course if you have committed some crime. But otherwise, within your spiritual life, your life is between you and God and no one else.
So, let the petty accusations fall off your shoulder, and look to something that is far greater than getting even or getting mad.
Do not engage in retaliation, do not engage in vindictiveness, do not return insult for insult. These things, these reactions gain you nothing and lose you potentially everything.
So do not fall for the tactics of the world, which is trying to sucker you into running your own life.
As a believer in Christ, you are royal family. You are greater than anyone in this world.
As a believer your life is greater because you have eternal life, and that is something worthy and greater than any life this world has to offer.
As a believer, your purpose is greater than anything this world, or anyone, has to offer. No one can match that which God offers.
As a believer, your accomplishments are greater than anything or anyone can accomplish in this world. Your spiritual advance to maturity, creates in you, not only perfection, but completion, and rewards that far exceed the imagination.
What you possess is worth far more than all that exists in the world, and insults and injuries whether they are legitimate or not, are irrelevant, and should be dealt with accordingly. Ignore them, for they cannot harm you in any way.
God has a plan for your life. You have His very own personal plan for your life. God designed it specifically for you, such that you can have the greatest life imaginable.
You will never get anything close to it from this world.
What the world can do for you, is offer a small pile of doggie doo-do. What God offers amounts to a solid gold mountain the size of a galaxy. There is no comparison between the two.
Therefore suffering the insults and injuries of this world is nothing when compared to the goal that lay before you in heaven.
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