Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Matthew 5:11

Blessed you are when these things happen. God’s kingdom is an upside down world, isn’t it? We are blessed when people insult us because of Jesus. It’s never fun to be insulted. In a thousand years we could not have come up with being blessed as a consequence of us being insulted, but it is.

I probably should point out that Jesus did throw in a qualifier to the verse: “because of me.” Just because someone insults you doesn’t mean that you were in the right. For instance, you’re tootling around in your car with your “Jesus Loves You” bumper sticker. You’re weaving in and out of lanes and you cut someone off. That person may aim a few insults and gestures your way, but you’re thinking that the person must have seen the sticker and is a totally godless heathen who hates Christian. That may be, but the reason he is upset is because you cut him off. You were at fault and the godless heathen driver was just responding to your terrible driving. But I digress.

Continue to pray for the millions of Christians around the world who are facing very real, very painful persecution. Pray for their boldness in the midst!

Sudan. China. Nigeria. India. North Korea. Eritrea. Iran. All of these countries are very worthy of our prayers.