I read a story about the exiled Bishop who was expelled from Uganda under threat of death. He said, “I was asked how I would react if I were handed a gun and President Amin were sitting beside me. The only reply that I could give was that I would hand the gun to the president and say, ‘I think this is your weapon. It is not mine. My weapon is love’”.
I think for some of us, one of the hardest tests is to refuse to allow violence or hatred or just evil deception to dictate our own reactions. To maintain our own values, our own integrity, our own personality in the face of provocation.
It is the integrity of Christ, facing the world’s evil at work through Pilate and Caiaphas and going to the cross because any other way would have brought him to the level of his accusers. It must have been hard, but he did it. I find it hard, and if I am to find the courage to stand firm in love, it will only be because Christ is sharing His Spirit with me.
“And yet, not I, but Christ who lives within me…”
And it is a sacrificial choice, to love whatever the circumstances. It comes under the heading of “offering your lives as a living sacrifice” and “do not be shaped by this world; instead be changed within by a new way of thinking.” (Romans 12:2 NCV)
To be in control of oneself is not to suggest a feeling of superiority, but to invite the love of Christ to do a grace-work in a situation where evil is trying to manipulate its own ends.
And I rather think it speaks more of the character of Christ and our identity in Him than any sermon.