-- Sunday, 7/17/11 -- THE PERSECUTED -- Matthew 5:10

[J.R. & Bonnie Ricks]

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THE PERSECUTED -- Matthew 5:10

 

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

 

A person who values God's opinion more than other people's opinions is often persecuted.  Why?  Because he is not seeking popularity.  He is seeking to be pleasing to God.  The person who is seeking to be pleasing to God has no righteousness of his own, but instead, is filled with the righteousness of Christ.  When people see him, they also see Jesus in everything that he does and thinks and says.  This person is so obviously a born again believer that others don't have to ask.  He doesn't have to wear a "fish" on his lapel or on the back of his car or hang a cross around his neck to be recognized.  He doesn't have to have a Bible tucked under his arm for others to notice there's something different about him.  He doesn't have to announce his Christianity - it's obvious.  He's not smug or self-righteous or sanctimonious, either.  He just lives the Word.  Jesus lives in him, and that fact is reflected in his very presence in a room.

 

Because of this, he is often persecuted… ridiculed… laughed at.  Take a look at television, for example.  How often is the Christian the one character who is made to look like a fool?  How often is the Christian the one who is portrayed as the bad guy or the whiner or the radical or the freak?

 

Look at Paul.  Paul was a God-pleaser... a God-pleaser who spent an awful lot of time in jail.  He wasn't worried about what other people thought of him, only what God thought of him. 

 

And look at Peter.  Although “Mr. Foot-in-mouth” wimped out on a few occasions, he also took a stand for God many times, like in Acts 5, when he and the other apostles were being persecuted by the Sadducees.  Peter and the other apostles were arrested and jailed, but during the night, and angel opened the prison doors and brought them out.  The next day, the Sadducees called together the entire Sanhedrin, planning to get the apostles out of prison and bring them before the court.  But although the guards were standing there and the doors were locked, the prison was empty!  When the prison guards finally found Peter and the other apostles at the temple, preaching, they quietly arrested them (not using force for fear the people would stone them), and brought them before the Sanhedrin.  The high priest said to them, “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name. Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man's blood.”  (Acts 5:28)  It was then that Peter showed the backbone he should have had all along when he and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than men!”  (Acts 5:29)

 

How often have you been ridiculed for your beliefs?  Have you ever?  If not, you're either associating only with truly Godly people, or you're not reflecting Jesus with your life.  If not, are you trying to be a people-pleaser rather than a God-pleaser?  Because if you're being a God-pleaser, those who are against Jesus - and there are an awful lot of them out there - will also be against you.

 

Pray for the strength to live in a way that reflects Jesus in everything you do and say and think.  And when the persecution comes, thank God for it, for yours is the kingdom of heaven.

 

 

All Bible quotes contained in these devotionals are from the New International Version 1984 (NIV1984), unless otherwise specified.

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