“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.” Matthew 5:11
We tend to think a lot about the hard times we experience in life. If we’re not careful, we can apply verses like this one life’s tough times. But the problem is, that’s not exactly what this verse is saying.
Read Matthew 5:10-12. This verse is Jesus giving us a tremendous promise. He is saying that when we are insulted, when we are made fun of, when we are left out or marginalized because of Christ, we are actually blessed! We are favored.
Notice what this favor is a result of: being persecuted because of Christ. The problem is that for too many of us, we experience hard times and trials but we don’t really experience persecution. A family member gets sick, or our parents go through a divorce, or we find ourselves disappointed by an outcome we hoped we wouldn’t get. All of these things are hard. And God is with us through our trials, no doubt. But it’s not the same as undergoing a trial simply because we stand up to the world and say, “I’m with Christ.”
Too often, we deprive ourselves of blessings because we are scared to take a stand. We rob God of the opportunity to show us favor because we wuss out when it comes time to stand up for Him. We lose the opportunity to grow because we run from difficulty.
As you go through your day and week ahead, prepare yourself to stand up for Christ when the time comes. You’ll get your chance, don’t worry. And when you do, don’t back down. Stand up for Christ. And do so knowing that God will bless you as a result.
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