Our culture has persuaded us that if God is pleased with our lives, He will bless us by making us prosper and overcome those who oppose us. It can be puzzling when people criticize us or oppose us with immunity. Why can ungodly people be allowed to make our life so difficult at times? Why does God not bless the righteous and punish the ungodly?
Jesus turned this thinking upside down. He declared that when people oppose us because of our faith and when they are critical of our beliefs, we should be glad. For then we are sharing in the same fate that met our Lord. Being assaulted is not necessarily a sign that God is unhappy with you! The opposite may be true. It may be you have never been more pleasing to God than when people criticize and oppose you for your belief in Him.
The reality is that society is changing. Christians ought to prepare themselves for increasingly intense and relentless persecution. We need not recoil from it or hide in fear. Jesus Himself declared that our reward would be great, when we suffered for Him. Have you suffered because of your faith? If you haven’t, examine whether you have been joining Christ each day in His work. Where He is, suffering is inevitable.