EMOTIONAL MARTYRDOM!

EMOTIONAL MARTYRDOM!

Luke 6:26-29

26 Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets.

27 But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you,

28 Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.

29 And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other;

John 15:18-19

18 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.

19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.

1 Peter 4:15-16

15 But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men's matters.

16 Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.

           Shouldn’t your efforts at doing and being right be rewarded with good things and good friends? Shouldn’t you be surrounded by congratulations at your success or, at least, at your efforts? For the Christian that is not always the case. Paul complained to his grumbling congregation that “the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved. 2 Cor 12:15

           There is a tension in religious outreach between the efforts of attracting the lost and retaining the devout. Once pure religion is thoroughly explained it loses its appeal with some and they walk away. It happened to Jesus in John 6: 66. “The men of noble aims find their lot a sad and lonely one still. They are smiled at as enthusiasts, sneered at as hypocrites.” (The Biblical Illustrator) Those who tenaciously cling to moral or Christian principle will suffer at the hands of those who do not.

1 Peter 4:19

19 Wherefore [because of this] let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.

Dear Father, when others withdraw from me, let me draw near to you. AMEN