persecuted for righteousness
Matt 5:10 - "Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
how righteous are we? how much are we willing to stand up for righteousness? are we righteous enough to be persecuted? in our open society like singapore, where religious tolerance is quite high, there isnt persecution. or not, maybe we just dont let others know about Christ enough. but lets talk about being righteous.
Matt 5:6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness...
if you are this kind of righteous person, then you will surely be persecuted. Jesus was. people take advantage of righteous people, people like to step on them and ridicule them, i'm guilty of that. people will hate being in your presence, because you thirst for righteousness and they want to do the wrong thing. you're a 'spoilsport' and a 'killjoy', but you're standing up for righteousness. people hate the truth, people hate goodygoodies. but we're asked to be righteous, and to be a positive influence.
vulgarities, lustful desires, skipping classes and so on. it happens around me all the time; i'm quite uptight about people swearing around me, but i havent done anything about my classmates openly talking about skirts and all. its time i start ;) and i'm not expecting a positive response from them, because i'm going against whats natural for them, whats natural for all of us. but living fish swim upstream, dead fish get washed to the bottom- its going to be hard but it will happen. and when my classmates get irritated because they cannot 'express themselves freely', i know i've done my work :)
and i exhort you, my reader, to preserve this world and be a shining light for all to see, that you may be courageous and upright enough to allow yourself to be persecuted. its not about being cool or making the gospel sound like the old testament. its not about having a 'nice God that allows you to passively sin because he understands'. its a standard of righteous that all men, saved or not must live up to. and when you get mocked for playing an angel, rejoice, because great is your reward in heaven, because all the great prophets before you have been persecuted.
who wouldnt like to live in harmony? but the truth would upset everything. nobody likes the real truth, until they have tasted it.
how righteous are we? how much are we willing to stand up for righteousness? are we righteous enough to be persecuted? in our open society like singapore, where religious tolerance is quite high, there isnt persecution. or not, maybe we just dont let others know about Christ enough. but lets talk about being righteous.
Matt 5:6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness...
if you are this kind of righteous person, then you will surely be persecuted. Jesus was. people take advantage of righteous people, people like to step on them and ridicule them, i'm guilty of that. people will hate being in your presence, because you thirst for righteousness and they want to do the wrong thing. you're a 'spoilsport' and a 'killjoy', but you're standing up for righteousness. people hate the truth, people hate goodygoodies. but we're asked to be righteous, and to be a positive influence.
vulgarities, lustful desires, skipping classes and so on. it happens around me all the time; i'm quite uptight about people swearing around me, but i havent done anything about my classmates openly talking about skirts and all. its time i start ;) and i'm not expecting a positive response from them, because i'm going against whats natural for them, whats natural for all of us. but living fish swim upstream, dead fish get washed to the bottom- its going to be hard but it will happen. and when my classmates get irritated because they cannot 'express themselves freely', i know i've done my work :)
and i exhort you, my reader, to preserve this world and be a shining light for all to see, that you may be courageous and upright enough to allow yourself to be persecuted. its not about being cool or making the gospel sound like the old testament. its not about having a 'nice God that allows you to passively sin because he understands'. its a standard of righteous that all men, saved or not must live up to. and when you get mocked for playing an angel, rejoice, because great is your reward in heaven, because all the great prophets before you have been persecuted.
who wouldnt like to live in harmony? but the truth would upset everything. nobody likes the real truth, until they have tasted it.
posted by jawn at
23:32
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1 Comments
