Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

Matthew 5:11-12

This is the second time Jesus mentions persecution, but now he adds to the list revile and say all manner of evil against you falsely, essentially to lie. Today we live in a society that is quick to revile, I listened to a podcast yesterday where a young man came out as “gay”, and he thought he that was scared, but everyone loved him, and essentially gave him a party. He said he thought that was the hardest thing he ever did up to that point, but it was really easy.

Then he was saved and God moved in his heart. He began to tell those same people about this wonderful thing that happened to him, thinking it would be like the last time and they would accept him. Instead they reviled him: blocking him on twitter, dropped him from facebook friends, they didn’t accept his phone calls, they walked the other way when he saw them on the street. They started spreading rumors, and they even had him fired from his job.

His sinful lifestyle was accepted, and cherished by his friends, but when Christ took hold, he was rejected. We talk about love and acceptance, but that’s only when it’s convenient to those around us, but when it convicts us of the things we are doing wrong, we have a tendency to revile it.

Many are speaking truth today, and they are being reviled, persecuted, and lied about. This is nothing new, like Jesus said “so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.” The world hates truth, yet as Christians we need to live as Christ, but we know Jesus will provide for us, and our reward is not here on the earth, but it will be in heaven.

Lord focus me in times where people push me away, when they misrepresent the truth, and when they try to harm me. Help me to endure all things for your Glory, help me put my focus on heaven.

Picture by unsplash-logoAshley Jurius