Blessed Are: You, When...

Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and falsely say every kind of evil against you because of Me. Be glad and rejoice, because your reward is great in heaven. For that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Matthew 5:11-12


Honestly, this verse makes no sense what-so-ever to a non-believer. Perhaps even those who are weak in their faith believe that it's wrong to think this way, yet time and time again we are told to consider difficulties that come because of our belief as a blessing.

Read through the following verses and decide for yourself. Remember though, we are never instructed to comprehend why it's a blessing. We are just told to know that it is.


Matthew 13:20-21 The Parable of the Sower and the Seeds
“And the one sown on the rocky ground – this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy. Yet he has no root in himself, but is short lived. When pressure or persecution comes because of the word, immediately he stumbles.”

Romans 5:3-5
“And not only that, but we also rejoice in our affliction, because we know that affliction produces endurance, endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope. This hope does not disappoint, because God's love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”

2 Timothy 3:12
“In fact, all those who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.”

James 1:2-4
“Consider it a great joy, my brothers, whenever you experience various trails, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. But endurance must do its complete work, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.”

1 Peter 1:6-7
“You rejoice in this, though now for a short time you have had to be distressed by various trials so that the genuineness of your faith – more valuable than gold, which perishes though refined by fire – may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

Amen and amen to that! Though I don't understand exactly why, isn't the eternal worth it? I'll end with yet another Scripture I love to cling to:

“Therefore we do not give up; even though our outer person is being destroyed, our inner person is being renewed day by day. For our momentary light affliction is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory. So that we do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen; for what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”
2 Corinthians 4:16-18