What Will You Suffer For?

Thursday's Devotion (4-14-05)

"For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God." 1 Peter 2:20 (KJV)

I've said it before, and since new visitors come all the time... I'll say it again. A lot of you get persecuted for doing wrong, and you say, "I'm being persecuted for Christ sake!" Being persecuted for your wrong doing, is not acceptable with God. It's not acceptable, because you shouldn't be doing evil deeds. I've been persecuted for both reasons. I've had people provoke me to anger, then when I got angry they said, "And you call yourself a Christian!" But I gave them the opportunity to do that to me, because I lost my temper. On the other hand, you can get persecuted for just wearing a Jesus T-shirt, or mentioning the name of God. It's true, I have been. Pretty silly, eh? That's how bad it is out there in the world, but that's also how easy it is to gain rewards. When we're persecuted we're building a treasure in Heaven.

Which brings me to something else: Some people go out there, and try their best to get persecuted. We should do nothing to get persecuted, we should do the Will of God. Then when we do the Will of God, we will be persecuted. But don't do it just to be persecuted, because then it's worthless. Do it, out of love. When you do it out of love, it will help people too! When you see someone doing wrong, don't say, "A chance to be persecuted!" No, say, "A chance to spread God's love." You're not troublemakers, you are godly people! Now go do God's Will, because you love God and others. You will suffer, but the question is: What will you suffer for? There's no rewards when you suffer because of wrong doing.

Prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for this message and for all things. Please forgive us of all our sins, and we forgive all those who've wronged us. Please help us to only get persecuted for doing right. Help us not to look for persecution, but to look to spread your love. In Jesus name. A-men!

God bless!

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