Friday, April 31st | Daily Devotion
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” -Matthew 5:10-12
TRANSCRIPTION:
Good morning. Grace and peace be unto all of you, my Father’s children on this incredible Friday. I pray all is well and this finds you blessed and highly favored.
We close out this week on the Sermon on the Mount — and we land on what may be the most personally challenging portion of the Beatitudes. All week we have been unpacking what it means to be blessed: the contentment, the joy, the favor of God that accompanies a life lived according to His design. Today Christ brings us to the final and perhaps most counterintuitive declaration of all.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake.
Persecution comes in many forms. But what Christ is speaking to here is specific — not just hardship in general, but being targeted because you are standing for what is right. Being lied on. Being talked about. Being misrepresented by people who know exactly what they are doing. I have been there. I suspect many of you have too.
And our natural, human, completely understandable response in those moments is: when do I get to respond? When does this get evened out? When is my vindication coming?
That impulse is real. But what this passage is teaching us — right on the heels of the call to be peacemakers — is that the field of persecution is not our field of vengeance. It is our field of blessing. If you are a champion for righteousness, God will be a champion for you. The vindication is coming — but it is His to deliver, not ours to manufacture.
That is a hard concept. I will be the first to say it is hard for me. When your name is being dragged, when false accounts are being given, when you know the truth and watch others believe the lie — everything in us wants to act. But Christ is asking us to resist that pull and remain in position. Because the moment we step into God’s lane and try to do His job, we step out of the place where His blessing can reach us.
Let people be people. Let God be God.
And in the moments when you find yourself distressed, distraught, or genuinely mistreated — hold onto this: no one loves you better than God. And He is the only one who can give you the kind of blessing, vindication, and restoration that actually lasts.
That is how we move — breath to breath, in a place of peace and anointing, trusting that God will take care of what we cannot.
Be not dismayed, whatever be done. God will take care of you.
Have an incredible Friday. I look forward to seeing our members on Saturday — and I cannot wait to talk with you again on Monday. God bless you.