He did not retaliate

"Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in His footsteps." Peter has just told servants that enduring unjust suffering, while conscious of God, is commendable. Now he points to Jesus. "When they heaped abuse on Him, He did not retaliate; when He suffered, He made no threats, but entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly."

In the session, Gilldares remembered watching the Jesus movie as a child, seeing the scenes where he did not retaliate and did not answer back. "I was just wanting to say, tell them who you are tell them tell them why you're here why are you letting them mock you," she said, and "our natural instinct is to jump to our own defense."

Most of us know that instinct well. When someone mocks us online, everything in us wants to explain, defend, and set the record straight. Jesus had every right to do that, and he chose not to. He was not weak or silent out of fear. He trusted his Father, who judges justly, to have the final word, and that freed him from needing it.

Today, notice the moment you want to defend yourself, whether online or in person. Before you answer, pray the end of verse 23: Father, I entrust myself to you, who judges justly. Then decide whether your reply is needed. Some wrongs should be named, with wisdom. But many can be left with God, who sees everything and judges rightly.