The Cost of Being Christian

 ³“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

 ⁴“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

 ⁵“Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth.

 ⁶“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

 ⁷“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

 ⁸“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

 ⁹“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

 

 ¹⁰“Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

 ¹¹“Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.

 ¹²“Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. (Matthew 5:3-12)

 

“Persecuted.” “…people insult you…” “…evil against you…”

Upon Jesus’ saying this, the outlook of being a follower of Jesus changes greatly. Prior to this, all of the “Blessed are…” verses contain instruction on being humble, merciful, pure in heart, and peacemakers. Then the whammy: You will be hated, pursued, bullied and harassed because of Jesus. You may die for Jesus.

To many, this is a shock to the system. Churches and evangelists often paint the picture of coming to Christ and having a peaceful, wonderful life without worry or fear. Many falsely believe that they will become a Christian and no longer have financial burden, family struggles, relationship issues, or disrespect.

Unfortunately, saying, “I’m a Christian,” is not a magical phrase that makes all needs and problems go away. Jesus never said, “I’ll make your life easy.” In fact, those last verses point to life being anything but easy. Jesus let us know that you may die for His cause, being persecuted for being righteous, by Jesus’ Godly standard. Yet, the reward is heaven. Jesus let us know that they will revile, mistreat and abuse us, and even persecute us because we belong to Jesus. Of course, the ultimate persecutions are torture and even death. And let us not forget the prophesied end-times in which all believers will be hated, sought and killed based entirely on their faith.

This is not to say that there are no benefits to being Christian. First of all, there’s heaven. We also do have immeasurable amounts of mercy upon us, peace that surpasses understanding, Spiritual gifts, such as tongues, prophecy, wisdom, etc. We are allotted blessing upon blessing for both the present life and our eternal life, all according to the Holy Spirit. The rewards always outweigh the concerns of being Christian.

What many do not understand is that being persecuted is not all bad. Surely, it is terrible for the moment. It is horrific to undergo the suffering that some brothers and sisters in Christ endure, even to this day. Yet in the end the reward is amazing. We live eternally in the presence of God; we get to look on the face of Jesus the Christ.

Jesus also said, “Whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” (Matthew 16:25) He will give in return an eternal reward. A blessing that lasts not for a day, but forever. The joy is forever. The peace is unending. The harmony is eternal. The presence of the Almighty, Creator God, the Christ who died in our place, such a presence you will be in ceaselessly. These will never, ever go away. Should you suffer for Christ for your entire life of 70, 80, even 100 years, yet in ten-thousand-million years your joyous reward will have only begun.