Blessed are you when people insult you...

“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.” Matt 5:11,12

“…when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you…”

Jesus knew very well that things like this will happen to us. And that’s why He makes it a point to mention this. Each day we interact with many people who are around us – at our workplace, our home, our neighborhood etc. There are times when we are insulted and humiliated in front of people, and it pains us. People might do so many things against us which might hurt us every day. They might crush us with their false accusations.
Let’s take the scenario at our workplace,
There will be times when we are purposely set at naught by our team mates.
People might deliberately avoid us and constantly try to pull us down.
Our mangers and other authorities might not appreciate us but rather always find fault.
All the good things we do and all our hard work might go unnoticed.
Maybe we are not given our promotion and appraisal on time,unjustly, for selfish reasons.
These are few examples of what might be relevant to what Jesus is quoting.

“…because of me...”

All the above mentioned issues become significant only when they happen because of the fact that we have made a conscious decision to follow Jesus and it is evident to the people around us.
You might very well go through tough times in office because of your manager for not doing your work sincerely. For this you cannot quote this verse and say you are being persecuted. Instead when you stand for Jesus in your work place and refuse to do what is not right and for this reason you are persecuted then this verse is applicable.
It might be the issue of paying your tax honestly, not claiming bills incorrectly, not telling a lie to cover up missed deadlines, not using office stationery for personal work etc.
We need to be a testimony where ever we are an in everything we do. You never know, you might be the only Bible people at your workplace may ever get to read.

“Blessed are you…” “…Rejoice and be glad…”

Many a times when things go wrong when we stand for the truth, when people persecute us because we have chosen to stand for Jesus, we tend to get discouraged and disheartened. We forget the fact that when we stand for Jesus, He will never put us to shame. We need to trust Him and hold on. Jesus reminds us to rejoice and be glad because we are blessed.

“…great is your reward in heaven…”

Jesus tells us how our reward is in heaven. We might expect things to work-out here, down on earth. Most of the time, it might not. In spite of being honest and truthful in all that we do in office our managers might still not appreciate us but rather look down on us. But it’s perfectly alright. Let us not yearn to gain for earthly reward and recognition which are temporary. Let us fix our eye on what is eternal, that which no one can take away from us.

“…in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

Jesus encourages us quoting how there have been people before us who have been treated this way. So we are not the only ones who are being persecuted, but many who have stood for Jesus, also faced the same. So let us not get discouraged but hold on to what is right. Let us stand for Jesus the way our fore-fathers did, even to the point of death.