YOU ARE NOT YOUR OWN

Luke 6... 20 And turning His gaze on His disciples, He began to say, "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. 21 "Blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh. 22 "Blessed are you when men hate you, and ostracize you, and cast insults at you, and spurn your name as evil, for the sake of the Son of Man. 23 "Be glad in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven...

I know there is always a risk posting a new found Biblical discovery because you run the risk of someone saying, "Way to go moron, everybody already knew that." Well, I am not so proud to admit I am 30 years old and growing more certain and more amazed at the Word of God. When I read this yesterday I was struct at how Luke (well ok Jesus) was stressing the reward to come in heaven.

You see he was saying that we should rejoice because when we are persecuted... BUT notice the two options of why we should rejoice.

1) Being persectued will ensure a great reward in heaven someday.
2) Our reward is great in heaven no matter if we are persecuted or not.

I adopt this second meaning. Jesus was saying, "Look good things are coming to you period... So whatever happens to you here is small in comparison. If you get persecuted, oh well, it's all good cause your reward is great heaven. If you have a great life, rejoice in that too cause your reward is great in heaven. Persecution is not the means to a great reward. If that were the case then the more persecuted Christians would have a greater reward. (Although in a sense they will because to do "without" forever makes the "with" all the sweeter!"

I beleive Paul had to view this similarly for him to say "to live is Christ, to die is gain".