A Badge of Honor
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. - (Matthew 5:10)
God takes it personally when His people come under attack, just as you would take it personally if someone were to attack your child or your grandchild.
When Saul of Tarsus, the notorious Christian killer, met Jesus on the Damascus Road, he had just presided over the death of Stephen, the first martyr of the church. Not only that, he was on his way to kill more Christians. So what did Jesus say to Saul?“Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” (Acts 9:4).
Notice that He did not say, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting My people?” For Jesus, it was personal. In the same way, when God’s people come under persecution, it is personal to Him. So if you are going through some kind of hardship, if you are being harassed, criticized, or persecuted for your faith in Jesus, be encouraged by that.
At the end of the Beatitudes, Jesus said,
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” (Matthew 5:10–12)
Jesus used the word “blessed” twice as He spoke about persecution for His sake to emphasize the generous blessing given by God to the persecuted. Jesus was effectively saying, “Double blessed are the persecuted.” The word “blessed” also could be translated “happy.” It’s as though Jesus were saying, “Happy, happy are the persecuted.”
It isn’t so happy when the persecution is taking place. But you can wear it as a badge of honor that someone would attack you because you so faithfully represent Jesus Christ.
Copyright © 2013 by Harvest Ministries. All rights reserved.
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
For more relevant and biblical teaching from Pastor Greg Laurie, go to www.harvest.org
and
Listen to Greg Laurie's daily broadcast on OnePlace.com.
Watch Greg Laurie's weekly television broadcast on LightSource.com.
SPECIAL OFFER
“Do you value the teaching and encouragement you receive from A New Beginning with Greg Laurie?
Is there credible evidence that Jesus really is the Son of God?
Retracing his own spiritual journey from atheism to faith, Lee Strobel, former legal editor of the Chicago Tribune, cross-examines a dozen experts with doctorates who are specialists in the areas of old manuscripts, textual criticism, and biblical studies.
Strobel challenges them with questions like How reliable is the New Testament? Does evidence for Jesus exist outside the Bible? Is there any reason to believe the resurrection was an actual event?