Blessings. They are so abundant in Christ Jesus. They span the range of every part of life. There are, however, some blessings that I could probably do without. One of those is found in Matthew 5, in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.
“You are blessed when they insult and persecute you and falsely say every kind of evil against you because of Me. Be glad and rejoice, because your reward is great in heaven. For that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” [Matthew 5:11-12 CHSB]
I do not usually find insult, persecution, and slander much of a blessing. At least not so much of one that I rejoice over it, but that is exactly what Jesus tells us to do. When we see this kind of opposition, we are “to be glad and rejoice.” He gives us two reasons for that response.
It means our reward will be great in heaven, and it means we are in good company. We are in the company of the prophets of God (people like Moses, and Elijah, and Elisha, and Jeremiah, and John the Baptist) who came before us and were not well received because of their loyalty and faith in the True God. Being in their company is reason enough to rejoice.
There is one caveat, however, to Jesus’ blessing. It is found in three little words in that Scripture above. We are blessed when we are insulted, persecuted, and slandered “because of [Jesus].” We will not be blessed if we are insulted, persecuted, and slandered because we are full of hate, or act stupidly, or our responses to others are based on selfish, or self-serving actions.
So, let us be careful, beloved, with our impulses. Our blessing will flow from a holy and truthful heart motivation acting under the direction of God’s Spirit only.
Amen.