Several years ago, a young teenage girl in the congregation where I was preaching was feeling a lot of pressure to join in with her peers. Her eighth grade class was planning a project that she did not feel she could participate in as a Christian. She told her teacher that she would not be able to participate. Some of her peers thought she was a spoil-sport who didn’t want to have any fun and would ruin it for everyone else, too. The things that were said to her were painful. The victory she won by holding to her principles was a painful one and she was very discouraged. It struck me at the time that Matthew 5:10-12 was an appropriate passage to share with her: Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Jesus says, in effect, when people say those kinds of things to you because of your faith, you are in good company. The young lady I described was encouraged by God’s Word and received the grace she needed to help her in her time of need (Hebrews 4:16).
Christians are assailed from every direction today, including from within the church herself. We want to offer encouragement; a reason to hope and to feel that we are on the winning side of the Good Fight, and not on the losing side.
The apostle Paul asked, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31) That’s a question every Christian should consider. His point in asking was to say, “No one can overcome us, if we remain faithful to Him!” Paul went on to say, “In all these things we overwhelmingly conquer!” (Romans 8:37) Notice what “things” from verse 35: Neither tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril or sword can separate us from the love of Christ. In verses 38, 39 he says that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing can separate us from the love of God. Know this: God knows you and He knows how to rescue the godly from temptation (1 Corinthians 10:13; 2 Peter 2:9).
Donnie Bates