Under Attack — A LifeWords Devotion

Matthew 5:10-12

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. (NLT)

If we believed some teaching about faith from some people, this father of the troubled boy would not have received help from Jesus.

In many circles, Christians don’t have such a good name. This attack can be relatively mild as in verbal criticism and profound misunderstanding. Or severe as in imprisonment or death. Jesus tells us to expect this: it happened to him and will happen to us. Darkness hates the light.

His point here seems to be that even if the world rejects us, we find acceptance by God. What others think of us is secondary to his own opinion. And that opinion is gracious and merciful. We belong to his new world, living under his rule. We may look like losers in this age, but we win in the age to come.

However, note that Jesus speaks of copping flak for doing the right thing. Sadly, we can bring persecution on ourselves because of our arrogance or our insensitivity. Some of us cringe at the public statements of those who profess to be Christians. If we are to speak out about our faith, our boldness needs to be seasoned with graciousness and sensitivity. We need to be practising what we are preaching.

We are blessed if we are persecuted for being faithful to the life and example of Jesus. We are not blessed if we are attacked for being argumentative know it-alls.