"He said unto them, Give place: for the maid is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn." Matthew 9:24
"And they laughed Him to scorn." Not much has changed. People laughed at Jesus when He was following the Father's will. They laughed at His faith. They laughed at Him when He went against earthly thinking. They are still laughing at Him and laughing at His people.
"Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also." (John 15:20) We shouldn't think that it is strange when we are laughed at because of our faith in Jesus. We shouldn't think it is strange when we are mocked for our faith. We shouldn't think it is strange when we are persecuted for our stand for Christ. Neither should we think it strange when we are mocked and labeled as being fanatics, intolerant, ignorant, etc. We should think it is normal because they did the same thing to Jesus-- if they did it to Him, they will do it to His followers. He was despised, rejected, mocked and ridiculed. They called Him names-- prince of the devils, glutton, drunkard, blasphemer. They lied about Him. They tried to kill Him. They finally crucified Him.
I guess I haven't painted a very lovely picture. Seems pretty gloomy and hopeless. Why would we want to follow Jesus if this is what we have to look forward to? This is just one side of it. We need to know that this is part of being a Christian so that we won't be disillusioned when the times come that we are ridiculed for our faith. So, what do we have to look forward to then? Things that the eye hasn't seen, the hear hasn't heard of and things that haven't even entered into our hearts-- blessings here and now and in the eternal future. In the now, we have a relationship with God the Father. He daily loads us with benefits. We have abundant life, wisdom, grace, joy unspeakable and peace that passes understanding. In the world to come we will have life everlasting. The privilege of hearing the Father say, "Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of thy Lord". We have a home prepared for us in heaven. We will forever be with the Lord where there is no more suffering, no more pain, no more sickness, no more rejection, no more ridicule.
"The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us." (Romans 8:18) Suffering for your faith is a part of this world. They did it to Jesus so they will do it to us. But what we go through here is not even worthy to be compared to what we will receive in eternity if we hold fast to our profession of faith and endure to the end.
Have a great day. We will suffer for the cause of Christ while on earth, but the glory that we will experience in eternity will make it all worth it.
For further reading:
1 Corinthians 2:9
Matthew 25:21,23
John 14:1-3
1 Thessalonians 4:17
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