Great is Your Reward

10 Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake,

    For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11 “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. 12 Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Matthew 5

Persecution of Christians is not something that most people associate with America. There is a different type of persecution in America for those who follow Jesus. Christians in other countries can face imprisonment, and even death, for simply being associated with Christ. In America, persecution comes from following Jesus’s teachings.

Often in America the type of persecution we see is subtle. Teenagers get shunned from the “in” crowd for taking a moral stand for Jesus Christ.  Adults in the business world can be passed over for a promotion for taking an ethical stand for Jesus Christ. These examples may not sound subtle, but the persecutors rarely tell the persecutees that “we don’t want to be around you because you are following Christ’s teachings” or “we will not promote you because we need a liar to fill the position for our own financial gain.” They are just left out or passed over. In that way the persecution is subtle. 

The promise of Jesus is that He will more than make up for what we lose out on here on earth by rewarding us in heaven. (vs. 12) To a teenager, acceptance by their peers is everything, and social scorn is devastating. To a parent trying to provide for their family, the money that comes with a promotion could help meet the family’s needs. However, Jesus actually tells us to rejoice when persecuted, because great is our reward in heaven.  Most people do not realize that God actually rewards us in accordance with our faithfulness, but He does. Here in Matthew 5, Jesus says that our reward will be “great” (see also Matt 25:14-30, 1 Cor. 3:13-15).  Both the teenager that is left out now and the business man who loses out now will be rewarded in heaven, and that reward will last forever. That is great incentive when compared to the earthly treasure that does not last and never really satisfies anyway. 

There is a saying that you can’t out give God. God is the greatest giver there is. When you lose out on the American Dream, which is vanishing anyway because you are persecuted for following Jesus, rejoice because God has so much more in store for you!