Prepare Now for Persecution - HOW TO COPE WITH HATRED FROM MEN

 We enjoy gaining the respect of others, but we must not make the mistake of measuring our worth by how popular we are.  Jesus said:  "Happy are you whenever men hate you, and when they exclude you and reproach you and denounce your name as wicked for the sake of the Son of man." (Luke 6:22) What did Jesus mean?

Jesus was not saying that Christians would enjoy being hated.  Instead, he was being realistic. We are no part of the world. We live according to Jesus' teachings and  preach the message that he preached. As a result, the world hates us.  (Read John 15:18-21)   We want to please Jehovah. If men hate us because we love our Father, that is their problem. 

Never allow anything that mere humans say or do to make you feel ashamed of being one of Jehovah's Witnesses.  (Micah 4:5)  We can learn to cope with fear of man by considering the example set by the apostles in Jerusalem just after Jesus was put to death.  They knew how much the Jewish religious leaders hated them.  (Acts 5:17, 18, 27, 28)  Yet, every day they continued to go to the temple and publicly identify themselves as disciples of Jesus.  (Acts 5:42)  They refused  to cower in fear.  We too can defeat our own fear of men by regularly and publicly identifying ourselves as Jehovah's Witnesses-men at work, at school, and in our neighborhood. - ACTS 4:29; ROMANS 1:16.

Why were the apostles happy?  They knew they were  hated, and they considered it an honor to be mistreated for doing Jehovah's will.  (Luke 6:23; Acts 5:41)  The apostle Peter later wrote:  "Even it you should suffer for the sake of righteousness,you are happy." (1 Peter 2:19-21; 3:14)  When we understand that we are hated for doing what is right, we will never allow the hatred of men to paralyze us with fear. 

Next time: Prepare Now for Persecution - YOU WILL BENEFIT FROM PREPARING

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