“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 5:11-12)
The idea we covered yesterday about kingdoms in conflict is nothing new; this battle has been going on since the beginning. When God sent His prophets to His people, they didn’t like what the prophets said and they killed them. Today, when we take God’s message to our world, the world today also tends to react badly.
In other lands, the opposition will be greater. In some nations, having a Bible in your possession could bring a death sentence… Whatever form it takes, this opposition to God is an old story. Yet, there is a difference between us and the prophets of old: While they brought God’s judgment to their hearers, we are instructed to bring God’s love.
I hope that all of us have the occasion to share God’s love with our world, and may we do so by our deeds as well as with our words. Let’s show people that we love them by the reality of the way we live and by the way we treat them. If we do, we just might earn a hearing for our words.
Related articles
- Kingdoms in Conflict (lifereference.wordpress.com)