if you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you – [I peter 4:14]
you are blessed
what does it mean to be blessed?
my default answer usually has something to do with the fact that God is good, gives us good and perfect gifts (james 1:17) and His blessings are evidenced by ‘good things’ in life, such as a secure job, a great family, and people who love me.
it would be more accurate to say that believers are blessed with things like peace, joy, and hope – fruit of the spirit given not by circumstance, but by God Himself.
to really nail it down, ‘being blessed’ means that we possess peace, joy, and hope not only when things are good, but especially when things are extraordinarily bad.
the one way to really know if we are truly blessed, if ‘the Spirit and glory of God rests upon us’, is to endure painful circumstances faithfully. in the midst of tragedy, in the face of persecution that screams, ‘deny God or else!’, do I still experience the blessing of being indwelt by the Spirit and Power of God?
in this passage, peter echoes the words of Jesus in matthew 5:11, “blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account”. This also fits with the words of james 1:2, saying “count it all joy, when you meet trials”.
our current culture has been built on a relatively Christian worldview, and so it can be easy to conflate blessings with the american dream. yet early believers had no such confusion. the options were to
- live life as usual without Christ, or
- accept Christ, and suffer ridicule, loss of income, loss of freedom, torture, and death as possible options.
to be sure, believers around the world at this very moment are facing the same cost and making that same decision.
if Christ is not truly God incarnate, and is not risen from the dead, then our faith is foolish and there is absolutely no point in following Him. paul himself states this in I corinthians 15:14. there is no earthly benefit, no blessing, in following a man who was berated, mocked, ridiculed, arrested, and crucified.
but if it is true…
if Christ is truly risen from the dead, if he is the author of creation, if he holds the keys to eternal salvation and offers it freely, if he allows us to boldly approach the very throne of God, if faith in him allows us to become his his co-heirs, if we may become the very sons and daughters of the most-high God, and if he is so good that he grants us the same Holy Spirit that was at work in Him to also indwell us?
every piece of evidence available leaves no doubt that it is absolutely true, and we are certainly blessed no matter what persecution we may face, because we face the same persecution as he did willingly on our behalf.
~ jason soroski