"SHARING HOPE THROUGH SCRIPTURE FOR THOSE WHO ARE BEING HATED, EXCLUDED AND REVILED ETC"
Luke 6:22 Blessed are you when men hate
you, And when they exclude you, And revile you, and cast out your name
as evil, For the Son of Man’s sake.
Luke 6:23 Rejoice in that day and leap
for joy! For indeed your reward is great in heaven, For in like manner
their fathers did to the prophets.
The NLT reads the above verses this way.
Luke 6:22 God blesses you who are hated and excluded and mocked and cursed because you are identified with me, the Son of Man.
Luke 6:23 “When that happens, rejoice!
Yes, leap for joy! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And
remember, the ancient prophets were also treated that way by your
ancestors.
Some explanatory thoughts and application:
1. Jesus uses the word, "Blessed", which means "Happy" to describe what we are when men hate us, exclude us and so on.
2. He then goes on to tell us why we are
blessed. And, here are the 2 reasons why. (1) It's because we have a
great reward in heaven waiting for us. (2) The prophets of old were
treated the same way.
3. An important point to consider, is
that this is because of "The Son of Man's sake". That is, the hatred,
exclusion etc, is because of our relationship to Christ, and our
standing firm in love, in His Word.
4. It's helpful to remember, that they
did the same thing to Jesus. People don't just naturally welcome and
love God's people. In fact, as stated here, they often have intense
hatred and malice towards them.
5. So, if you are doing what God has
called you to do, don't be surprised if you also experience what Jesus
talked about. But, don't forget to rejoice and leap for joy, etc.
There's a reward waiting for you. This life is not all there is to our
existence in Christ. There is the life to come. And those rewards for
what you are going through now, are safe and sound, being reserved in
heaven for you.
A prayer:
Father, Your Word is so helpful to us.
Thank You for it. We gain perspective, hope, comfort and encouragement
from it. It sets our thinking in the correct way. Thank You for caring
enough to explain things to us. Especially the more painful things of
life. We love You, and look forward to our rewards in heaven.
Pastor Bob Grenier
