Holy Boldness

So why would truly righteous people get persecuted? There are two reasons. The first reason is that they are an affront to those who are wicked. As much as we would like to pretend that there is a little bit of good in everybody, there are truly wicked people on the earth that refuse to be reconciled to God. They are stiff-necked and strong-willed and self-centered and they will not bend to God’s sovereignty. They hate anything that represents something other than their lifestyle because they feel threatened. The righteous bear a standard whether they open their mouth and talk about it or not. They carry a light in their very person. They do not have to try to be good; they are light-bearers. The wicked will attack the righteous because they do not want to change nor do they want to be reminded of the choices they have made. The second group that persecutes the righteous is the self-righ teous . This group hates the truly righteous because they are all about outward appearances but not about the inward reality. These were the primary opponents of Jesus. And this false dichotomy between what peo ple looked like on the outside versus what they were on the inside was the thing that Jesus challenged repeatedly. Jesus saw through the veneer of religious hypocrisy and exposed it. In the end, they persecuted Him and got Him condemned to death. So also those who walk in righteousness will be persecuted. When this beatitude becomes a reality in someone’s life, that one is no longer afraid of persecution. It simply does not matter anymore. Why? Because “theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” When the kingdom becomes a reality in someone’s life, it begins to dominate and displace every other pursuit. Persecution does not weaken but strengthens the resolve to walk in the light. Jesus was not kidding when He said, “Blessed are the persecuted.” (Matt. 5:10) They have access to realms of truth and blessing that nominal Christians will never engage. I am not talking about “going to Heaven” physically. I am talking about intimacy with the Lord, access to His secret council, and a place of contentment in the love and presence of God. In the western church, which idolizes comfort, any talk about suffering is rigorously avoided. However, anytime a person genuinely pursues a lifestyle of submission to Christ, confrontation with the spirit of the age is inevitable. “Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ The Reward of the Kingdom

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