Mat. 5:10-12 ... "Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are you when men revile you, and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely, on account of Me. Rejoice, and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you."
To be persecuted implies there is something you believe in that others reject, and when you refuse to give up your belief to please them, they make you suffer for it. Therefore, to have this component of good character, loyalty, there must be something you hold to be very important and very precious. And for Christians, that is, above all else, Jesus Christ as the Son of God and Savior. This final Beatitude extends the thought and meaning of the fourth in v.6, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for right-eousness." In the essay in this series on it, it was stated that faith in Christ and obedience to His teach-ing results in Him conferring His righteousness upon you. A person who has Christian character will forfeit his life rather than compromise his faith or forsake obedience to Christ, because he puts first "the Kingdom of God and His righteousness," (Mat. 6:33). When you rank something first, everything else is second, third, or less in order. The fear of being persecuted is therefore of lower importance and persuasion than "the Kingdom of God and His righteousness," and the adamant Christian will submit to terrible treatment rather than deny them.
The history of Christianity has preserved a record of the fortitude of men and women who were so loyal to Christ that they submitted to horrible treatment rather than deny and desert allegiance to their Lord. They were beheaded, hung, burned at the stake, slain by gadiators or fed to wild animals before a multi-tude of blood-thirsty spectators. They are immortalized in the moving hymn, "Faith of Our Fathers," which is frequently sung in church assemblies. Though dedicated Christians are persecuted with cruel physical torment, or emotionally with demonizing ridicule, they will not give up their superior desire to praise Christ. Their commitment to please Him is far greater than the urge to please an ungodly society to escape its ire and brutality.
To abandon loyalty to Christ will quieten the ungodly multitude, but the reward is no greater than to be left alone and ignored. Jesus said that to stand resolute and immoveable against the sinful mass will lead you to a "reward in heaven (which) is great." That reward is depicted in Rev. 7:7-17. I urge you to turn to that passage and carefully read it, for space here will not admit its quotation. You, the reader, may then decide which reward is greater and more enduring, forsaking loyalty to Christ to avoid present persecution, or enjoying the beauty and bliss of heaven for eternity.
It is my observation that a great many "Christians" are not so loyal to Christ and yield to the pressure of an ungoldly society in countless particular attitudes, values, behavior and lifestyle. It seems obvious our real guiding principle is to be like the norm about us to fit in and not draw attention to ourselves. When "put on the spot" in some situation -- yield to pop culture to blend in, or oppose it to maintain loyaly to Christ and His model of mind and conduct -- so many of us chose the prevailing lifestyle. We may make this choice and harmonize with the ungoldy lifeview and behavior, but it betrays a character flaw. And, it costs us in more ways than we care to admit. It is very often true that there is so little difference between a "Christian" and the admittedly irreligious that they can hardly be differentiated. Would to God we had a change of heart and put loyalty to Christ first, even if it displeases others and riles society against us.
