The Beatitudes Part 8

"(10) Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sakes, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. (11) Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. (12) Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in Heaven, for they persecuted the prophets who were before you."                Matthew 5:10-12.  NKJV 

We come to our last study of the Beatitudes today and these last three verses are extremely important to us. The cause of persecution is loyalty to righteousness. It is the price that we pay for Love and the Love I speak about here is God. Let's take a look at 1 John 4:7-8 for more detail:

'Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is Love.'

Do you see it? It says God is Love. He can be known as Love because that is what He is. He operates in Love, He creates in Love, He walks in Love and He is Love. God is Love. Because of our love for Him, we present ourselves to the enemy and all who do not know God, as fanatics, religious and pious people who live hypocritical lives and all the other stuff that is loaded upon Christians. It all comes in the form of persecution.

Why is this? Quite simply it is because we make stands. There are things that we will not accept. Jesus didn't accept it so neither do we and this causes divisions and hatred towards us. Some of the major topics are:
HOMOSEXUALITY
The bible says that it is an abomination for a man to lie with a man as with a woman, or a woman to lie with woman as with a man. Leviticus 18:22; 20:13. In the New Testament, the apostle Paul called it 'shameful,' the result of being given up by God to 'vile passions,' Romans 1:24-27. God loves the homosexual but not the act of homosexuality. He created man in His image and declared that a man should leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife and the two shall become one flesh. Ephesians 5:31.There is no compromise here, even though the world may say that - today, it is ok, we've moved on. We have not, not in God's eyes. He holds us accountable.
SAME SEX MARRIAGE
Another major topic today is same sex marriages. Modern churches today may say that it is acceptable, but as the above states, God does not accept this type of thing.
ABORTION
The murder of a child is not acceptable unless there are very strong reasons, medically, why this should take place. If it means that the child has died in the womb or that the mother will die giving birth, then this may be deemed as acceptable. Children are a gift from God and every effort should be made to preserve the child's life.

These are just a very few of the topics that are contentious and where a Christian will be persecuted if they make stands against them. However, persecution can take place in the home, where families are divided, because one of the members become a Christian and the remaining family members refrain from this. It can bring heated arguments, in fact, some families throughout the world can evict family members who have been born again and in extreme circumstances, murder them. Christianity will always bring division, it can be a never-ending battle.

Our work life can suffer too as a believer. Many times we may be asked, or even ordered to do something that is totally against our faith. To make a stand, can bring problems, even dismissal; to compromise means that we are being disloyal to our faith and to Jesus.
As Christians, the road can be difficult and as we've seen, the price of love - of following Jesus, can be very costly. People can rebel against us and even tell lies so that we will be disciplined. When you look at things, we are in a war. We're on active service and our Commanding Officer- Jesus trusts us to do battle for Him when it is required. He hung on a cross for us. That is the price that He paid. Is it too much to ask that we, as His chosen people, can make a stand for Him when we need to?

The world when you look at it is in chaos. The ever-rising violence and murder, accelerated drug use, child trafficking, abuse, lawlessness and so on. Isn't it about time that we, as Ambassadors of Jesus make a stand for Him, refusing to compromise? Times running out, we're possibly the last days of decay. Jesus may be returning soon. Let us be ready. God has promised that a great reward for us is in Heaven and we have His Spirit and the protection of our angels too. Let us get the job done.

Copyright 2019 Grahame Howard

dailylifewithjesus@protonmail.com