Motivated to Suffer

Good morning.

It was wonderful to journey through Abraham’s life wasn’t it? In it we became aware that the Lord always has His greater plan in mind and we need to be available to be efficient within it. We don’t know what effect our simple obedience regarding one person’s life may have in the Kingdom of God. We used the example of Billy Graham. The person, who led Billy to the Lord, simply did his duty in obedience, but the result was many souls saved and he shared in Billy’s inheritance.

In the light of this ‘greater plan’ view, why did the Lord make the following statement? “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you,” (Matthew 5:10-12).

As we said before in various ways, we are not supposed to live for this life. Everything Jesus said was aimed at discouraging us to get comfortable with the World and its ways. We are foreigners, pilgrims, visitors, ambassadors – name it what you wish – to this planet, for heaven is our home. Our motivation should be heaven and our treasure should be in heaven. We should not look at having a legacy on earth. What we do should be remembered in heaven, written up in the book of life.

“Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honoured his name. ‘They will be mine,’ says the Lord Almighty, ‘in the day when I make up my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as in compassion a man spares his son who serves him. And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not,’” (Malachi 3:16-18). Wouldn’t you like to be part of this group? Why not fear Him and honour His name through obedience?

So why did the Lord make the statement in Matthew 5 above? Those who live godly lives and expect to be persecuted (2 Timothy 3:12) have their focus on heaven. Earth to them is just a hotel room whilst they are at their mission, and everything they do counts for them in heaven – their headquarters. To them it is not about what the neighbours think, how far they can progress in their career and what they can do to make life comfortable, but it is about people being their reward in heaven - souls that are saved, encouraged, equipped to serve the Lord efficiently, etc. Therefore when these warriors of Jesus get persecuted, they rejoice for they have stepped on the enemy’s toes and it hurt, so he snapped at them - they have managed to mess with his plans and to stir up his evil kingdom.

They also rejoice for they know Jesus promised them a reward directly related to persecution. This reward is meant to encourage us not to shy away from persecution, which is a definite for those who make a difference in this life for God’s sake – a godly life. If we are not living for heaven and persecution makes life difficult for us, we would avoid it for the sake of comfort. This leads to compromise, which means we are actually not as godly as we should be. However, if we realise that we are rewarded every time we are persecuted because of righteousness, we will be encouraged to persevere in godliness and be glad for persecution.

Are you one of these mentioned above, living a godly life and rejoicing in persecution? If not, try it for it is very rewarding.

Lord, please make me aware of heaven?

Thank you Lord that your Word went out from your mouth, via your servant’s pen, and it will not return to you empty, but will accomplish what you desire and achieve the purpose for which you sent it.

Please pass this on if you think others may benefit by it.