April
13, 2003
BLESSED
ARE YOU WHEN THEY REVILE
AND PERSECUTE YOU
"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 5:11, 12,
NKJV).
"There
was never one who walked among men more cruelly slandered
than the Son of man. He was derided and mocked because of
His unswerving obedience to the principles of God's holy law.
They hated Him without a cause. Yet He stood calmly before
His enemies, declaring that reproach is a part of the Christian's
legacy, counseling His followers how to meet the arrows of
malice, bidding them not to faint under persecution.
"While
slander may blacken the reputation, it cannot stain the character.
That is in God's keeping. So long as we do not consent to
sin, there is no power, whether human or satanic, that can
bring a stain upon the soul. A man whose heart is stayed upon
God is just the same in the hour of his most afflicting trials
and most discouraging surroundings as when he was in prosperity,
when the light and favor of God seemed to be upon him. His
words, his motives, his actions, may be misrepresented and
falsified, but he does not mind it, because he has greater
interests at stake. Like Moses, he endures as 'seeing Him
who is invisible' (Hebrews 11:27); looking 'not at the things
which are seen, but at the things which are not seen' (2 Corinthians
4:18).
"Christ
is acquainted with all that is misunderstood and misrepresented
by men. His children can afford to wait in calm patience and
trust, no matter how much maligned and despised; for nothing
is secret that shall not be made manifest, and those who honor
God shall be honored by Him in the presence of men and angels...
"In
every age God's chosen messengers have been reviled and persecuted,
yet through their affliction the knowledge of God has been
spread abroad. Every disciple of Christ is to step into the
ranks and carry forward the same work, knowing that its foes
can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth. God means
that truth shall be brought to the front and become the subject
of examination and discussion, even through the contempt placed
upon it. The minds of the people must be agitated; every controversy,
every reproach, every effort to restrict liberty of conscience,
is God's means of awakening minds that otherwise might slumber"--Thoughts
From The Mount Of Blessing, pp., 31-33.
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