Today’s Podcast
Today’s Bible reading plan:
Read it in a year – Acts 3-4
see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)
Today’s Devotional
Luke 6:22-23
Jesus: When people hate you,
when they exclude you
and insult you
and write you off as evil
on account of the Son of Man, you are blessed.
When these things happen, rejoice! Jump for joy!
Then you have a great reward in heaven
For at that moment, you are experiencing what the ancient prophets did when they were similarly treated by the ancestors of your detractors.
What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?
There is a lot of hate in the world today. So much so that in this country we have even started labeling things as hate crimes. Kind of tragic to think we have come to that state, isn’t it? One group of people say derogatory things about another group and it’s considered a hate crime. Another group commits some violent act against a protected group and it’s a hate crime. When could any purposeful violence against another not be considered a hate crime? Why do we need special words to describe crimes against one section or another? Isn’t all crime against one another wrong?
But that’s for another day. Today I want to talk about the promise Jesus made to those who carry His name, Christians. Notice that Jesus didn’t start this admonition with “if people hate you…” He said, "When people hate you on account of Me. Do you think crimes against Christians will be considered hate crimes? Don’t count on it. God’s word tells us to expect others to hate us, exclude us, insult us, write us off as evil. It’s an expectation Jesus gave those who heard His message on the mountainside that day.
Can you imagine the rumbling that spread through the crowd as Jesus said those words? Join Me, but everyone will hate you when you do. Follow Me, but no one will invite you to their party when you do. Obey My commands, but you will be the brunt of everyone’s jokes as soon as you do. Oh, and by the way, when all these things happen to you, and you can be sure they will, consider yourself blessed because you’re doing just exactly what I’ve asked you to do.
So what would you do at that point in the sermon? How many do you think got up and walked away? How many started thinking Jesus really was insane? How many stuck around just to see how crazy His sermons would get? How many thought anyone would follow Him after a job description like that?
You can be sure most of the crowd stayed out of curiosity at best, not out of loyalty to Jesus. Remember He told them and His disciples that the road was narrow and few would find it. Most would follow the broad road the world pushed them along. Most would listen to the lies of Satan and just meander the way of the world thinking everything was okay but walk right into their own destruction. Sure the crowd would come to see the healing and hear His preaching, but as Jesus taught like this, few would give up their comforts to take on the life He promised.
But Jesus reminded them and us that God’s people have always felt severe persecution. Look at what happened to Moses, Elijah, Elisha, Jeremiah, Hosea, Isaiah, name the prophet. The vast majority of the people around them didn’t like their message and criticized them for it. Most people didn’t want to change their behavior, their worship, their lives, to follow the commands God directed. Most people wanted to continue to do what they wanted to do. Most refused to give up control of their lives to God. And so they hated His messengers.
If we follow Christ, we will do what He says and His command to all of us is to share His message, to be His witnesses where we are. And as soon as we share His message, we will be hated for doing so. Why? Because we ask people to change if they expect to escape eternal punishment. We tell them the only way they can find eternal rest, eternal reward, the only way to please God is to change and not just be good, but to give themselves to God, to obey Him.
The self-centered nature we inherited through the seed of humankind rears its ugly head and says I want to be in charge of me. Until we let go of me, we will see Christians as the enemy. We will label Christians as haters of everyone else. We will exclude them because they make us uncomfortable with the truth of God’s word. We will call them evil even though deep in our heart we know they are not. We will try to crush them because we refuse to follow the narrow path God lays out for us.
But when we accept Him, when we follow Him, when we obey Him, we will experience all those things Jesus promised on that hillside, but in the end, we will join Him in eternity. The short time of suffering we experience here will seem as nothing compared to the eternity we will get to spend with Him. Is it worth it? You bet it is.
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