"“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. . . . Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven"” (Matthew 5:6 & 10, NKJV).
This morning'’s newspaper tells of another new book that puts Jesus'’ death and resurrection in the category of myth. The same paper shows photos of two small children killed in a fire set by a man who was angry at one of their parents. On another page is the testimony of a man who was to have flown another jet on 9/11 into the white house. The city section is mostly rants against this province'’s current leader. Not a lot of good news, mostly stories of people sorely in need some of that righteousness that Jesus offers.
I wept reading the paper. Jesus changes hearts and lives, gives hope and deals with self-centeredness and all sorts of sinful attitudes and actions. How can someone slander His name in exchange for book royalties? How can people reject His forgiveness and offer of righteousness and instead burn children, blow up people and wrangle over everything?
These two verses from the Sermon on the Mount offer an interesting juxtaposition. They say that if a person hungers for the righteousness God offers, He will give it to them, but once they have it, other people will despise them for it.
The newspaper has articles about "‘persecution"’ or at least claims of it. People rant about everything from the government to coffee shop litter, as if they are being persecuted. But how many people are persecuted for righteousness? Far more people are attacked for bad behavior rather than godliness, at least according to the newspaper.
God says that if anyone lives a godly life in Christ Jesus, they will be persecuted, yet seldom do these stories reach the news. If a "“good"” person goes berserk and kills a "“bad"” person, that is newsworthy, or if "bad" people kill "“innocent"” people that will be in the paper (except it is now politically incorrect to call anyone "bad"). But when evil people kill godly people, it usually doesn'’t warrant even a short article on the back page.
I heard a story last night on a radio sermon of a man who loved Jesus, but lived in a country where the government forbid him to talk about Christ. He did anyway and was arrested. He told the officials who interrogated him that their weapons were torture and murder, but his weapon was dying. He said his sermons were published. If they killed him, the people would consider his words were even more important because his blood was on them. He would become widely read and have greater impact for Christ dead than he would alive. I can imagine the consternation of his tormentors.
Yes, in today'’s world people are killed for their faith and their righteousness. It seldom makes the news. But there are other ways to attack godly people. One way is to write books that say what we believe is bunk. Another is committing violent actions with clenched teeth and an attitude that says godliness is for the weak. Another is to simply complain about everything — a clear message that the God we love and serve is not here to answer prayers and provide needs, and even if He is, they say, "“No thanks, I'’ll do it myself."
When I ask the Lord for a greater godliness, am I really asking for attack from those who hate righteousness? Maybe, but I am also asking for His tremendous love and patience toward those who shake their fist in His face.
No comments:
Post a Comment