You Changed

“Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs. You are blessed when they insult you and persecute you and falsely say every kind of evil against you because of me. Be glad and rejoice because your reward is great in heaven. For that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” (Matthew 5:10-12)
 
Persecution can come in a variety of forms a snarky comment, broken relationship, physical or emotional abuse. We all have felt the pain of these if we had young children, we might get snarky comments more than we would want. There are many who are persecuted for outrageous things that they have said or done. However, we do not give them a reward instead, we might frown upon them. In difficult moments when people fail to understand why we choose to live a certain way and uphold values that are different from them that are beneficial and wise based on God’s standard we can face persecution.

When you start making new habits that are good for you and line up to with different values people start to notice. The friends that you had before even question who you are and start ridiculing you since “you changed” or there is something different about you that they do not understand the reason behind it. You are hated because your life goes against the grain of what society says based on what God says is right. We feel the pain when our old friends no longer want to spend time with us because of the new habits that formed within us because of Jesus. We feel the sting.

​It doesn’t mean that it doesn’t hurt when we are rejected but, we can have hope and comfort knowing that God will provide for us and be there for us even when we are mistreated. It is through our faith in Jesus that we can stand firm in difficult times.
 
Heavenly Father, help us to stand firm in our faith even in difficult times even in the face of criticism, rejection, or cruelty. Help us not to avoid in doing good but, lean into your faithfulness.
 
Walking with you,
Stacy Watkins