March 20 - Foreseeing False Accusations

“‘Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me’” (Matthew 5:11).

Faithfulness to Christ will bring enemies of the gospel who will “falsely say all kinds of evil against” us. Whereas “insults” are abusive words said to our faces, these “evil” things are primarily abusive words said behind our backs.

Jesus’ critics said of Him, “Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!” (Matt. 11:19). If the world said that of the sinless Christ, what things can His followers expect to be called and accused of?

Slander behind our backs is harder to take, partly because it is harder to defend against than direct accusations. It has opportunity to spread and be believed before we have a chance to correct it. Those who slander us can do much harm to our repu-tations before we’re even aware that we’ve been slandered.

We can’t help regret being slandered, but we shouldn’t grieve about it. Instead, we should count ourselves blessed, as our Lord assures us we will be, when the slander is “because of Me.” We have no surer evidence of the Lord’s blessing than to be cursed for His sake. It should not seriously bother us when men’s curses fall on the head that Christ has eternally blessed.

Are you prepared to accept the slander you might receive because you are a Christian?

We can sometimes invite persecution by being unduly abrasive and difficult, so that others do not persecute us as much for our faith as for the tacky way we express it. How can we tell the difference? Are people being offended by Christ or just by us? There is certainly no blessing in being obnoxious.

To: Alex Murphy; boatbums; CynicalBear; daniel1212; dragonblustar; Dutchboy88; ealgeone; Elsie; ...

Studying God’s Word ping

2 posted on 03/20/2019 4:50:52 AM PDT by metmom ( ...fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith...)

Slander behind our backs is harder to take, partly because it is harder to defend against than direct accusations.

Don't even try to 'defend' as they really don't care.

It just wastes your time.

3 posted on 03/21/2019 4:26:07 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)

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