In Good Company

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” (Matthew 5:10-12)

This teaching wasn’t as uplifting as the rest. The others told us how to become good followers of what He was teaching us. They told us how to work towards becoming true disciples of Christ. Though the previous teachings asked a lot of us as individuals and were by no means easy to undertake, they were not so difficult that any one person could not choose to work towards accomplishing the goal of getting our insides to match up with outward reflections.If one was to go back and look at the principles that Jesus taught on in the previous verses, one would find that they are very noble principles that lead a person to not be hypocritical but real in all facets of one’s life, especially spiritually because the focus is on a transformation that occurs on the spiritual level. Recognizing our spiritual poverty and also recognizing Christ as the only one who can eradicate that poverty. Realizing that there needs to be a sacrifice and a death to what we want and seek after what Jesus wants for our lives. Craving righteousness just as we would crave food or drink to satisfy some of our most basic needs and taking that craving using it as a driving force behind our hunt for that righteousness. Becoming merciful in such a hard hearted and merciless world and seeking to unify the people in our world in the common cause of discipleship. Most important it seems to become pure in heart and pushing aside hypocrisy and two-faced motives. These are not bad things to want for one’s self. These are all characteristics we should seek after whole heartedly. Which is why the last teaching of Jesus in the beatitudes was almost disheartening to me.This final beatitude isn’t about how to be a better disciple, it is about what will happen when you begin to make that transition and become successful in doing so. It is a statement of preparation for what will happen as the world begins to see that transformation taking place in a life that it once held captive. You no longer fit into the society that you had been a member of for so long. You become someone whose goals and desires and priorities have changed from that of the norm of society. You are no longer focused on taking care of you and what people think of you and how they respond to your existence. None of that matters to you anymore—and for that the world will hate you. The people that have loved you and embraced you into their lives will be the first to recognize your change and will be the first to persecute you. They will say horrible things about and slander your good name. It is such a horrible response to a good thing happening in your life. That is the disheartening part to me. People not recognizing the good that is in my life and them treating me differently because I am not self centered anymore but rather have chosen a different focus for my life. I guess therein lays the test.Knowing the world will not receive us for rejecting the accepted priority balance in life, knowing that all facets of our character will be ostracized, knowing that the ones closest to us may be the ones hurting us the most and still choosing to seek after Jesus and follow His teachings. At that point what we have worked for will have paid off; Jesus says our rewards will be great in heaven. The persecution is to be taken as a sign of our successful transformational process. It is to be seen as a sign that we are on a right track in the right direction. To say that I have chosen a discipleship walk with Jesus and not be persecuted is what I should be concerned with, if not outright worried about. Jesus mentions that the prophets that came before us endured the same persecution. That places us in good company.

Father I thank you for persecution, may I accept it as a badge of honor to be persecuted for my beliefs and devotion to You and Your kingdom’s work. Amen.