To Receive This Blessing You Better Be Prepared

Luke 6:22 - Blessed are you when men hate you, and ostracize you, and insult you, and scorn your name as evil, for the sake of the Son of Man.   NASU 

• What Confuses Me 

When I first became a Christian in March 1975, I could not have been happier. I mean to have the realization that all my sins were forgiven by God, WOW! That truly was an awesome time in my life.
 
I wanted my friends to experience this same forgiveness, and that is when I became the recipient of a totally new type of blessing. A blessing that I was not prepared to receive.
 
The blessing I refer to is the one where people will hate you, ostracize you, and insult you because you tried to share the Gospel with them.
 
There will be parties you would have always been invited to attend before, but you will no longer receive an invitation to them.
 
There will be face to face meetings which cause you to walk away and wonder, "What just happened?"
 
You will be insulted, you will be called names, your past will be remembered by your friends, and you will be labeled as "judgmental."
 
Yes, I was totally confused.  I thought for sure my family and friends would have been glad to find out what I had discovered. But instead, I was blessed in a way I was not prepared to receive. 

• The Blessings Do Come 

The greatest blessing I received was after living the Christian life for 11 years. My father and mother gave their lives to Christ and were baptized.
 
I couldn't remember one insult or even care that some people hated me on the day I baptized my father and my mother.
 
But come to think of it. I can't remember any insult, ostracizing or being hated that came to my mind as I baptized other people into Christ either.
 
So yes, I really feel blessed that I have been able to tell others about Jesus Christ, my LORD and Savior. I have been blessed exactly the way God said I would. I have been hated, ostracized and insulted because I am a believer in Jesus Christ.

• Is It Your Turn To Be Blessed? 

All you have to do to be blessed is be hated by men, ostracized, insulted and scorned as evil for the sake of Jesus Christ.
 
I can tell you this: the older you get, the less any of it matters and the more important it is to be friends with Jesus.
 
Think On These:
 
When we let God guide, He will provide.
 
Fear not tomorrow. God is already there.
 
Our faith deals with what God says - not what learned men say. 

Stay Pumped, 

Gary A. Serago
 
Minister of God's Word

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