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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. 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.Luke 6:22-23
Jesus doesn't just speak these words from Luke 6, He lives them out. He is consistently ridiculed for doing the work of the Father. When we are hated and reviled for loving Jesus, we can look to Christ as our example of how to be ambassadors of truth.
Jesus assures us that the worst the world can throw at us cannot compare to the joy of a relationship with the Lord of all. We have Christ now and for all eternity! From everlasting to everlasting we will know the sweetness of God. He is more beautiful than the sun, moon, and stars. Our reward in heaven is the enjoyment of God's glory forever.
Paul writes, Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ...Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:35, 37-39
God's love given through Christ should lead us to a joy in all situations and the hope of an eternity to come. Rejoice that God gives Himself as our reward. May we find strength to endure in Jesus' name and continue to treasure the Lord above all things.
Used by permission from NewSpring Church
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