Blessing for Feb. 19th 2008

Luke 6:20-23
Looking at his disciples, he said: "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. "Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven.

Exclude you, insult you and reject your name as evil…..because of the Son of Man. Yes, this does happen a lot. Many are rejected by their own family because of accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior. Some are thrown out of houses. Some are persecuted with threats that they may even be killed. Jesus said, "Rejoice" when such things happen. How can someone rejoice when such things happen? It’s impossible unless one thinks of the final reward. If we think of the temporal in such situations, we cannot survive. As we read in the book of Hebrews regarding Moses, the great servant of God.

"By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward." (Hebrews 11:24-26)

Are we looking for our final reward? If yes, then Jesus says, we are blessed.