Matthew 5:11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
The more we read our bibles and understand the word of God, the more this old world seems upside down and backwards. On this matter of persecution of the church, it is most definitely turned inside out. There are vast amounts of professing Christians here in this country, yet there is so little reviling and persecuting of Christians. We are not having to endure men saying all manner of evil against us for Christ sake. We’re just not. It’s almost non-existent in the states. I’m sure there’s some cases out there. But for the most part, we read this verse, and throw off the last three words of the verse “for my sake” and try to apply this verse to ourselves. Yet it has nothing to do with us.
The part that really makes this backwards is that instead of being reviled and being persecuted and being lied about, we are the ones reviling, persecuting, and lying about each other! We’re the ones reviling other people in the church. We’re the ones giving others a hard time. We’re the ones that are lying and spreading rumors. Not everybody does this, certainly; but when there’s more church members engaged in this behavior against other church members than the devil’s children doing this to the church, something is wrong. Not that this is prevalent, but compared to real persecution against the church in our country, it is certainly a problem. And not just against church members, but everybody we encounter in this walk of life.
This verse is supposed to be an encouragement to the saints of God not a rebuke. You may not openly revile someone, but what is said behind closed doors? What do you say in the privacy of your head and under your breath? Do you spend more time complaining about the brethren than you do praising God? Do you spend more time bad-mouthing your boss or your employees than you do praising God? When the child of the devil does wrong you (not for Christ’s sake) are you quick to publicize it and denounce them and lift yourself up?
God help us that we might be a blessing to the brethren and the world and not a curse. God help us that what comes out of our mouth about others is not negative, critical, and condescending, but rather positive, encouraging, and respectful. God help us to “…be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.” (Eph 4:32) God help us that the world might see the advocating Savior in us, not the accusing Satan.
Granted, one can easily point the finger back at me and say, “Well, isn’t that exactly what you’re doing? Aren’t you being critical and negative?” Duly noted. I do rebuke and exhort myself quite often. I lift myself above no one. This has been a help to me also.
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