The Blessing of Suffering (cont...)

“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." Mt 5:11,12

Matthew 5 that tells us when we are reviled, persecuted, or lied about, that we are “blessed”!! WHAT?!  I admit, in fact I adamantly state, it doesn’t feel like a blessing, but that’s what the Word of God declares about it. It goes on to say that there is a reward laid up for us in glory as a result of this mistreatment.  In other words, those “persecutors”, are gaining for you a greater weight of glory that you could not have earned for yourself. You will enjoy for eternity what they have gotten for you that you could not have gotten on your own.

You should offer thanks to them for this great blessing they have achieved for your continuing benefit…but they likely would not understand. 

"For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." Romans 8:18

"My friends, do not think it strange, these fiery trials that come against you." I Peter 4:12

Despite the assault on our opinion, our reputation, our jobs, our entire selves and those we love, we are called to present the Love and Blood of Jesus because of who we are: Children of our Father. When you read this does your heart yell, "NO!" even reading it I hear that yell. Our whole society is built on the supposition that I must defend my rights. To do less is failure. But the Bible teaches the principle of servant-hood, not self-rights. If in the face of injustice we do less than present Jesus, we withhold the beautiful Glory of Jesus. The world is looking for something that is real. How can we not deliver to them the truth of the good news? If you are afraid they won't understand, likely they won't. But it isn't your job to reveal the truth, only speak it, only live it.  It is only the Holy Spirit that can reveal that truth. And He will do it in the most amazing ways.

So then what can we say when we walk this sometime solitary walk?? "The LORD is on my side, and I am not afraid of what others can do to me." (Psalm 118:6) and "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." (2 Timothy 1:7)

This persecution then is of the greatest of blessings we as Christians can receive. Revelations 12: 11 "They triumphed over him (overcame the accuser of the brethren) by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death." This is the heart of our victory. 

If you need some more encouragement, if you are facing fiery trials; here is a page full of verses to remind you of the greater glory of those tribulations. (http://www.openbible.info/topics/persecution) You are not alone. You have the Comforter within to encourage you (Jn 16:5-15), and Jesus Himself is making constant intercession for you (Heb 7:25).

So, be of good cheer, Jesus said, "These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” Jn 16:33

I think the most precious thought the Bible presents in this regard was the very same promise that Paul himself held on to, "Oh that I may know Him in the power of His resurrection and in the fellowship of His sufferings being made conformable to His death." Phil 3:10. What a strange promise, but to know resurrection, one has to die. Paul assumed that was a forgone conclusion, but he knew this process of dying would lead to fellowship, intimacy, knowing God the way Abraham, the friend of God, knew Him. What greater prize can there be in life than to have fellowship with the lover of our souls, the creator of the universe. Yes, that is the most precious gift that can only come from suffering.