Positive Thoughts On Persecution

We . . . suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God . . . but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.

1 Timothy 4:10, 12

The reproach we experience is the natural resentment in the hearts of men toward all that is godly and righteous. This is the cross we are to bear. This is why Christians are often persecuted. Paul made this clear in these comments to Timothy.

Let us not forget that there is happiness and blessing in persecution. As George MacDonald puts it, we become “hearty through hardship.” Our Lord instructs the persecuted to be happy. “Rejoice,” He said, “and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you” (Matthew 5:12).

The word joy has all but disappeared from our current Christian vocabulary. One of the reasons is that we have thought that joy and happiness were found in comfort, ease, and luxury. James did not say, “Count it all joy when you fall into an easy chair,” but he said, “Count it all joy when you fall into divers temptations” (James 1:2).

The persecuted are happy because they are being processed for heaven. Persecution is one of the natural consequences of living the Christian life. It is to the Christian what “growing pains” are to the growing child. No pain, no development. No suffering, no glory. No struggle, no victory. No persecution, no reward! Jesus predicted that if they persecuted Him, they would persecute you who follow Him too.

The Bible says, “The God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, establish, strengthen, settle you” (1 Peter 5:10). It is so easy to forget that “all things work together for good to them that love God” (Romans 8:28).

Our Father and our God, I bow in humble submission to Your will for me. Help me to remember that the hard times of life make me spiritually strong. Remind me that only with sunshine and rain can there be a rainbow of blessings and spiritual growth. In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).