Rejoice when you are persecuted for My sake.
Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you falsely because of me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven. Thus they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Matthew 5:11-12
Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude and insult you, and denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice and leap for joy on that day! Behold, your reward will be great in heaven. For their ancestors treated the prophets in the same way. Luke 6:22-23
In a broken world, up is down. In the present world, still awaiting full restoration and redemption, aligning ourselves with the righteous and good King of all creation will result in being hated and mistreated. This is actually a good sign. We need to rejoice in such treatment for His sake. It will result in eternal reward that far outweighs our temporary suffering. It demonstrates we are on the right side.
