Rejoice --- We're In Good Company!

One morning, a postal worker was sorting the daily mail, when he found an unstamped, poorly hand-written envelope, addressed to God. Upon opening the letter, he discovered that it was from an elderly lady who was greatly distressed because all of her savings had been stolen — all $200.00 of it. Now, she would be cold and hungry throughout the winter.

The postal worker suddenly had an idea. After telling the woman’s misfortune to his fellow employees, he asked them to dig deep into their pocketbooks to come up with $200.00 to donate to the destitute woman. However, they could only come up with $180.00. The postal worker decided to go ahead and send the woman the donation anyway. She received it by special courier that same morning. A week later, the same postal worker recognized the same handwriting on another envelope. So he opened it up, and it read:

“Dear God, Thank you for the $180. It will help keep me warm and fed. P.S. It was $20 short, but that was probably because of those thieving Postal workers.”

Brethren, criticism is very rarely easy to accept, even when we know it’s deserved. Being criticized for something we did not do, especially when we’re trying to do something nice, is tough to handle. It’s bad enough to not be appreciated for our acts of kindness, but it’s even worse to be slandered. However, the apostle Peter said that we should be thankful, even for those times!

In 1 Peter 2:19-20 NIV, Peter tells us: “For it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God. But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God.”

So what’s the benefit for being mistreated? We’re in good company, that’s why. “To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in His steps” (1 Peter 2:21 NIV). Rejoice (Acts 5:17-42 – note “rejoicing” in vs. 41) — we're in good company!

—Mike Riley, Gospel Snippets