Matthew 5:11
11 “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake.
Never has there been one who walked among men that was more cruelly slandered, derided and mocked than was Jesus. His unswerving obedience to the principles of God’s Holy Law caused Him to be reviled among men. Yet Jesus stood calmly before His enemies declaring that reproach is a part of the legacy of each Christian’s life.
While sitting upon the mountain side with his disciples pressed close to His feet, he counseled them on how to meet the arrows of wickedness, bidding them not to faint under persecution. Slander spoken against the true Christian may blacken the reputation, yet it cannot stain the character that is firmly rooted in Christ. As long as we do not consent to sin, there is no power under heaven that can bring a stain upon the soul of one whose heart is firmly ground in God.
Our God is the same whether it is our greatest hour of need or when we are swimming in prosperity. Still all around us may lie discouragement, but when the light and favor of God shines upon those that are committed to a relationship with Him nothing around them will matter.
Those that follow God may have his words, motives, actions, misrepresented and falsified, yet he does not mind it, because he has greater interests at stake. But because Christ is acquainted with all that is misunderstand and misrepresented by men His children can afford to wait calmly with patience and trust in the divine leading of God for nothing is secret that shall not be made known to those who honor God, God shall honor in the presence of men and angels.
“When men shall revile you, and persecute you,” said Jesus, “rejoice, and be exceeding glad.” And He pointed His hearers to the prophets who had spoken in the name of the Lord, as “an example of suffering affliction, and of patience.” James 5:10. Abel, the very first Christian of Adam’s children, died a martyr. Enoch walked with God, and the world knew him not. Noah was mocked as a fanatic and an alarmist. “Others had trials of cruel mocking and scourging, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment.” “Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection.” Hebrews 11:36, 37
As Paul was reviled and persecuted, yet the gospel message advanced, and when Christians the world over are reviled and persecuted in the name of Jesus, Christ is glorified.
Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake
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