Hated and Blessed

So I was reading Luke today. And today I came across the infamous Beatitudes.

And I noticed something.

One of the Beatitudes, was longer than all the rest.

And Jesus made mention of it because we as Christians will go through it.

Here's what he said in Luke 6:22, 23

22 Blessed are you when men hate you.
And when they exclude you,
And revile you , and cast out
your name as evil,
For the Son of Man's sake.

23 Rejoice in that day and leap for joy!
For indeed your reward is great in heaven,
For in like manner their
fathers did to the prophets.

The point here is that we should be rejoicing when men hate you. Now why is this? Surely, there is absolutely nothing untruthful or harmful about being a Christian. Well, God promises Christians that we will suffer persecution for believing what we believe. For the unwavering Christian, there is a constant spiritual battle going on that we cannot see, but our Spirit testifies to. The enemy is constantly trying to gain ground on what is the Lords. And the enemy is unrelenting in his attempts to bring the Church to his side. But we are only given persecution when we are a threat to the enemy. We are only attacked when we are after something he wants. There are so many people in the Church that the enemy doesn't need to worry about because he's already got 'em.

This is why Jesus says if you're being hated, rejoice! Hatred is a tool used by the enemy to try to bring us down. But if we react in the opposite spirit than what he's expecting by doing what is unselfish and rejoicing, we begin messing with his head.

Jesus also says that this is what happened to the prophets. And most prophets that I read about, got their coolest experience when they stood firm on what they believed in and rejoiced for the Lord. Just look at Elijah, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Moses, etc.

It's time for the church to not succumb to being politically correct when we're being hated for being different than the world. It's time to be different! It's time to stand up for what's right in America and around the world. I'm sick of the world dictating what the Church should look like. I'm also sick of the Church catering towards what's cool instead of what's right. Speak the truth and don't back down. Hold on to what you believe and rejoice for Jesus Christ promised you a great reward in heaven.

Amen.