Do you really believe enough to quit complaining? Matthew 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 people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. 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 5:10-12

!!!HYPOCRISY ALERT!!!

Warning! I am about to write an entire post about something I don't really believe! Please continue reading with the understanding that the author is a big hypocrite in this area.

Before I'm labeled as a heretic that doesn't believe the words of Jesus, let me explain! My head believes it absolutely...my heart and my emotions just haven't quite caught up yet. I'm praying that one day they will!

Do you remember what happened the first time Peter and the apostles were arrested and beaten for preaching about Jesus? You can read about it in Acts 5. Here's the cliff's notes version. Peter and the rest refused to obey the religious leaders and quit talking about Jesus because obeying God was more important to them (Acts 5:29).   Gamaliel, an incredibly well-respected Jewish leader, convinced the other leaders that they needed to let Peter and the others go because, after all, they might be wrong about Jesus not being from God. If it Jesus was from God, Gamaliel argued, you can't do anything about it anyway (Acts 5:39). And lo and behold, his argument won the day! But... just for good measure, they went ahead and flogged Peter and the others, anyway, and told them one more time to quit talking about Jesus!  

I think it's worth mentioning that a flogging for the Jews meant being hit 39 times with either a rod or some sort of pretty barbaric whip. Do you know why it was 39 times? Because the law only allowed 40 times for fear the person would die if they took too many more. To be sure they didn't violate the law by miscounting, they stopped at 39. Pretty considerate, huh?

And do you remember how much Peter complained about the hypocritical leaders beating him after acknowledging that they might be wrong and Peter might just be right about Jesus after all? Do you remember how the apostles told everyone in Jerusalem how unfair the council was therefore proving that people should listen to the apostles instead of the council? Do you remember that?

No, you don't. And here's why:

"So they went on their way from the presence of the Council, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name. And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they kept right on teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ."   - Acts 5:41-42

 Wanna know the worst that anyone has ever done to me? They've talked about me behind my back, assigned false motives for different decisions that I've made and twisted my words to say what they wanted them to say. Wanna know my reaction? I felt sorry for myself, complained to my wife, my dad, my brother, and my father-in-law, and eventually complained to God about it and asked God to fix the situation.

And that is why I have to admit that while I believe in my head that Jesus was telling the truth in the last beatitude above about being blessed if you are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, if I'm honest, I have a lot of trouble believing it enough to put it into practice the way Peter did. I feel very confident that when Peter left the council beaten and bloodied, the first words that went through his mind were those of Jesus saying, "Rejoice and be glad! For in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you!" And Peter obeyed. He rejoiced and he kept at his work joyfully. I imagine it was a discipline for Peter to remind himself to rejoice instead of complain when he painfully rolled out of bed the next morning. I imagine it was difficult at first to train his mind to think, "Blessed am I!" instead of "woe is me!" each time his scabs were reopened. 

But I know that the same Holy Spirit that filled Peter and gave him enough strength and enough faith in Jesus' teachings to allow him to rejoice also fills me and offers the same strength and faith to me today. And he does the same for you if He is in you through Christ!

So how about it? What do you need to quit complaining and start rejoicing about today?