“God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs. God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers. Be happy about it! Be very glad! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, the ancient prophets were persecuted in the same way.” (Mt. 5:10-12 NLT). Here, Jesus turns the natural world upside-down by teaching us to rejoice in persecution. Why would he do that?
There will be times when people will persecute us just for being good. This may happen at your job, school or even at home if people are hostile to God. Sometimes we are marginalized at our church because we are trying uphold higher Christian standards. Some people just don’t like the presence of someone who is good because it highlights their corruption. Jesus provides an amazing encouragement for anyone in this situation that helps you rejoice in persecution. You will have a great reward in heaven! It is important to take a little time and think about this. It is a reward from God for eternity. It will obviously be much more valuable than anything you could lose on earth. If we can keep this promise in the forefront of our minds we can be thankful even when we are persecuted. You can even rejoice in persecution!
Are you persecuted in any way? Are you on the fringes of a social group (work, school, church, home etc) because of your Christian standards for living? Can you focus for a minute on your reward for this? How happy will you be when you receive that eternal reward?
