Cost of Discipleship Pt 47 Persecuted

Mat 5:10  Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Bonhoeffer- 'This does not refer to the righteousness of God,  but to suffering in a just cause, suffering for their own just judgments and actions. For it is by these that they who renounce possessions, fortune, rights, righteousness, honor and force for the sake of following Christ, will be distinguished from the world. The world will be offended at them, and so the disciples will be persecuted for righteousness' sake. Not recognition, but rejection, is the reward they get from the world for their message and works. It is important that Jesus gives his blessing not merely to suffering incurred directly for the confession of his name, but to suffering in any just cause.  They receive the same promise as the poor, for in persecution they are their equals in poverty.'

My thoughts-

Distinguished from the world.

Suffering for being Christ like.

The suffering will come in many shapes and sizes, seriously.  We're not all going to be beaten, imprisoned, abused vocally. The persecution can come in many, many ways.

Have you ever been made to feel bad for doing something good?  Seriously, ever?  You did something nice and someone turns around and gives you grief for it.  That's a form of being persecuted for righteousness' sake. 

Of course we often retaliate when someone chides us for something we don't think we should be chided for. We get indignant.  We snap back at those who are persecuting us, and that is the spirit of Satan sneaking in using our failings to bring us down.  We can all it a natural reaction if we want to, because we LOVE to make excuses for our actions rather than admit the failure and fall to our knees crying out to be forgiven, to be helped, to be changed by the Holy Spirit.

I'm speaking from a lot of personal experience here, because this is a daily battle for me. I'm constantly finding myself on the defensive rather than being submissive to any sort of persecution. 

Also, being submissive to the persecution- isn't there a danger of resentment in there too, I mean, can't their be? And once there is resentment, a silent seething ire however small, it becomes just as bad as if we were outwardly defensive.

This is a very slippery slope to be sure and one I fight daily. And it is a fight, a spiritual fight, a battle that we are in. Satan is there encouraging every bit of ire, fanning any tiny flicker of flame he can find until it grows into a real inferno.  He is real, he is relentless, he is evil and he wants every single one of us!

How do we fight him?

With the weapons given to us.

Eph 6:17  ... the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God

The Word of God!

We have the entire Bible and we have our SAVIOR!   With these weapons Satan can be defeated! We have to wield these weapons, truly wield them in a real way as if we were holding a sword in our hands.

We will be persecuted for righteousness' sake! We will! And the reward will be 'the kingdom of heaven' !  Life with our SAVIOR!

Please LORD, please! Help us to truly use the weapons you have provided for us! All by YOUR GRACE, YOUR LOVE, YOUR MERCY!