How do we advise our children when they’re dealing with a difficult teacher or coach?
We find guidance for this in 1 Peter 2:18-23:
"Slaves, in reverent fear of God submit yourselves to your masters, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh. For it is commendable if someone bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because they are 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. To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. 'He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.' When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.”
This passage challenges us. Jesus endured the ultimate unjust suffering, and nothing we face will be as difficult as what He went through. Jesus chose to entrust His life and situation to God—the one who “judges justly.” Are we willing to do the same with the crosses we bear?
It says we “bear up under the pain of unjust suffering.” This means advising our child to serve, honor, and forgive the difficult authority in their life. We counsel them not to respond with their own wrong behavior but to endure, knowing that this challenge is often temporary.
Why do we do this? Because we trust in God and want to be “commendable before God.” We believe that honoring even difficult authority figures is best for us because God’s ways are best—even when they’re hard, and we have to “bear up.”
