Reflections

¹¹“Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.

 12″Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.  Matthew 5:11-12

Christians have been called all sorts of names since the beginning.  Even today we are considered intolerant and divisive because we preach that Jesus is the only way and the only truth.  Even as Jesus set out in the beginning of His ministry He told His listeners that they would be persecuted because of Him.  This is the spirit of the devil because he is out to destroy the witness and testimony of Jesus.  We should not think it is strange when we are persecuted for our beliefs or when others speak evil against us.

Jesus told us to rejoice for our reward is in heaven.  In the Old Testament they persecuted the prophets.  Yet we are still blessed despite persecution and the lies people will tell about us.  We should never be ashamed of being a “Jesus freak” or a follower of Christ.  We are a blessed people and others know it.  So let us rejoice always.

I hope you enjoyed the Beatitudes series.  It really helps us keep our faith in focus and to know that we are really blessed to have Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.  Our Christian walk is not easy, and the path can be rough but we are blessed and highly favored of God.  We are the light and where there is light darkness cannot exist.