One of the main messages of Christianity is that we are subject to selfish emotions – envy, pride, self-righteousness. These are products of our ‘natural’ or ‘fallen’ state.  It is these emotions, which are connected to our ego, that we must resist.  The only emotion we can trust and cultivate  - as one that drives action - is love.  If you are not feeling love then be on your guard that some selfishness is not at work.

For example, I recently heard an anecdote where a woman was in a lift with a group of men, and one of them made a crude joke. She was offended and told the man off.  Now this is no doubt the right thing to do if someone (woman or man) does this – but Christianity asks for more of you. It asks you how were you feeling when this happened?  If you are outraged and feel offended, and speak from that motivation then that suggests that your ego is involved.   A true Christian would not be concerned about how the crude remark affected them, but would be more concerned about the state of the soul of someone who makes such remarks, and their reply would therefore come from a place of love and concern for that person (rather than their own offended ego). And I suggest that with such a motivation of love the response will be delivered slightly differently – but perhaps with bigger effect.  I am not saying that the reply would not be stern, but rather that the tone and facial expressions might be more of deep concern than deep outrage.

“Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear” (Ephesians 4:29).

“Let your light shine before others” (Matthew 5:16a)
 
 
 
 
 
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Historically Christians have suffered much persecution.  

Stephen was stoned to death, Bartholomew was skinned alive, Lawrence of Rome roasted on a spit while alive, and (according to the Roman historian Tertullian) the Romans tried (unsuccessfully) to boil John the Evangelist alive. John spent the last years of his life in prison.

How have Christians handled this? Not by seeking vengeance as secular people do. Maurus prayed to God for patience as he was tortured. Whilst being stoned to death Stephen also asked that his tormentors be forgiven. (Acts 7:59)

Even today there are stories of Christians who follow in this tradition - a 12 year old Christian girl, fatally burned by ISIS asked for forgiveness of her persecutors. 

And persecuted Christians in China pray - not that the persecutions will stop, but that they will have the strength to endure them and remain faithful. In Syria, and reportedly other places, they hope their faithfulness in the face of suffering will influence their persecutors. Certainly there are reports throughout history (and recently) of witnesses to Christian tolerance of persecution being converted by what they saw.

Here is the bible's teaching on how Christians should handle persecution:

“Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ,  you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.” (1 Peter 4:12-14) 

 “… love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” (Matthew 5:44) - a teaching Jesus famously demonstrated Himself on the Cross.

History records that many Christians have held true to this teaching and it seems that many still do even today.

The image above is from: www.opendoors.org.au/persecuted-christians/world-watch-list/syria.
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A quote at that site is: 
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"“Sometimes we have fear, we have frustration. Definitely, we experience depression sometimes, but at the end of the day we chose to stay because it’s the Lord’s calling for us.” – Rana, from Syria.

Do not be upset that you suffer various temptations in life.  We are not computers to be programmed by God, but creatures with free-will, who determine our own heart.

How can you know you are brave if you never face danger? How can you know you are a man or woman of peace if you are never tempted to war? And how can you call yourself pure if you have never resisted the lusts of the flesh?

Thus we must face these temptations if we are to know ourselves. But the important thing about temptation is to resist rather than succumb.  That is not to say you will succeed at first, there is no Victory without Struggle, and the struggle of Life is great.  But like the fables of knights of old, one must persist in his quest until the great goal is achieved, and the Holy Grail of life attained.

What do you do if someone breaks a promise and leaves you in difficult position?   What do you do if someone does you an injustice? What do you do when things go horribly wrong? These are situations we all struggle with, and the temptation is to get angry. Angry at others in the first two cases and, in the latter, ourselves or God.   However, my own experience when battling these passions is that when I forgive the one who broke a promise to me, things start to work out. Firstly, I feel much better not being angry. Secondly I find that I can then turn to God and ask Him to fix things for me.  Remember, God is omnipotent, and there is nothing that is beyond Him.  Thus there is no situation that He cannot turn to good, if you ask and place your trust in Him. Every time I have done this, things have worked out – maybe not quite the way I expected, but they worked out such that I was at peace and not left in too great a difficulty –in fact often things work out as good or better than if nothing had gone wrong.
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Thus this is the great battle of life – to master the passions.  The power of this was demonstrated by Christ on the Cross. Even though He suffered the greatest injustice – being physically crucified and humiliated – Christ did not get angry at His tormentors, but rather forgave them – showing the great power of forgiveness and self-mastery over evil.  Instead of this evil act leading to more anger and retribution, it led instead to the ultimate demonstration of forgiveness which was so powerful as to influence the entire culture of the Western world for the next two thousand years.
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Thus, it is the Christian’s duty – before all others – to master his or her own passions.  That is not too say one should become overly ascetic or stoic like Diogenes - Christianity is a religion of moderation, not prohibition, rather one should take what is given with gratitude to God yet not indulge one’s senses or desires, except the desire to love.  

Jesus is supposed to be the person that we should imitate if we are to lead a spiritual life.  He was without sin, and fully one with the Father.  We are asked to also “be perfect as your Father in Heaven is perfect”.   What we know most about is the three years in which Jesus taught and ministered.  At this time he preached the Gospel, healed the sick and demonstrated that He was a/the divine person.  But what about Jesus’ earlier years – the 30 years in which he lived quietly (aside from 3 days in Temple at age 12)? Should we use these years as a model for Christian life also?  I think that perhaps we should, that perhaps the lesson of Jesus is that we should not rush into activity until we have reached a certain level of inner perfection.  So if we are to model ourselves on Jesus’ early life, before we consider - or are even capable of - teaching others and healing the sick, what is the lesson of His early life?  I think His example contains the following; firstly humility. We know little about Jesus’ early life because He drew little attention to Himself.   Certainly at this stage He did not go and create grand Charities, or rail about political issues such as Imperial oppression, or slavery – he did apparently give water to Roman prisoners as they were taken past (as in Ben Hur), an act which worried his adoptive Father Joseph, as it was forbidden.   So if this is the example, simple acts of kindness and Christian charity motivated by true love and compassion seem to be desirable. He worked as a carpenter, and later said "the worker is worth his wages" - thus He modelled a life of simple service (yet one in which the servant can expect his needs to be fairly met). Indeed, I believe that true Christian action should be mostly localised, working with the people around you, serving most often in simple ways. The small things present enough challenges for those embarking on the Christian journey – as Chesterton said: “We are asked to love our enemy and our neighbour, as usually they are the same person”.  In fact, the small things are perhaps the hardest challenges, the people close to us are the people most able to give us offense that we will take as offensive. So perhaps it is enough for an aspiring Christian to simply spend some time perfecting their inner person and gaining self control and a strong connection with God and God’s will before they launch into activity as an unripe soul?  Perhaps only then they can achieve the sorts of achievements such as that of George Muller, who created three large orphan houses in the 1800’s by following God’s will and through prayer, refusing to ask anyone for a penny of money, yet receiving all he needed.

Perhaps if we try and do too much too soon we risk doing our will instead of God’s?

Note: Following is the relevant extract from "A Day in the House of Joseph" referred and linked to above:

"“We, for instance, every now and then contemplate the future; - Jesus not even once. But let someone ill or a beggar come to the house, Jesus is with him, consoles him and gives him alms. And thus I have observed Jesus in all His doings and actions, never having any reason to criticize or take Him to task.
“A Troup of Romans is coming down the road, stopping at the well. You know yourself that it is strictly forbidden to give bread and water to the poor hungry and thirsty prisoners. What does Jesus do? He goes out there with bread and water, looks at the Romans and they tolerate Jesus refreshing the prisoners. And how I worried about His deed! But Jehovah had mercy on us. We did not suffer any misfortune. On the contrary, my sons acquired a profitable commission from the Roman commandant.
“And thus I live in the recognition that silence is the best route in this case. If Jesus can be silent all day, I should be able to remain silent too even if the mouth would love to say a lot.” (P 11.)