Several years ago, a university student who took the gospel of Christ to a rough London neighborhood encountered a group of hostile men. "You rat!" said one of the men, seizing him. "I've half a mind to break your jaw!"

"My friend," the young man replied, "if that is going to help you at all and make me less of a rat, go ahead and break it."

The writer who described the incident concluded his account by saying, "The jaw was not broken, and the group dispersed."

That student's calm response to a personal threat was powerful and Christlike. The apostle Peter said that when our Lord Jesus Christ was reviled, He "did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously" (1 Pet. 2:23).

Our profession of faith in a just, sovereign God meets the acid test when we are opposed for taking a stand for the truth. If we strike back, we stand in our own strength. If we follow Jesus' example, we stand in the power of God.

When the heat is on and we put our confidence in the Lord, we will be able to do what's right even when we're wronged.  — RBC Ministries