Bullied for Christ's sake

     OK, maybe I am the only one in the world reading this who has ever been the victim of being bullied by another person, and if this turns out to be the case then Praise God, but I very seriously doubt it.  Maybe when you were in school as a child, someone wanted to take your lunch money, or just liked to be the "Big Man" that every kid fears. I remember in high school, and yes I can remember that far back, even though my kids think I can't, there were a couple of brothers who I went to school with, Tim was the younger brother that I hung around with and his older brother was named Sylvester, or Syl for short. Syl loved to make sure the younger kids were afraid of him and he tormented kids daily. I figured well I hang with Tim so I have no problems. WRONG! When we entered our freshman year he started in on me and others and he didn't stop messing with people until their family left Germany in my Junior year, which was a year after he graduated. He would hit you and make fun of anyone, and just torment you until you actually wanted to run for your life. I remember one day he came up and started in on meand I back talked him and told him to just chill out and take it easy, and I have no idea why I did it to this day. He got mouthy and for some reason I did too ( I think I had a case of temporary insanity at that moment because he could have pounded me into dust very easily as big as he was....lol). Well we went on mouthing for a few minutes and if memory serves me right he either hit me or shoved me down, but I got right back up and all of a sudden he just walked off and told me I'd see him later. Well that was 26 to 27 years ago and I saw Syl several times after that and he would acknowledge me with a head nod and walk on by. Tim said he told him I was the first kid to get back up and talk back to him and he didn't know how to handle it, so he backed off me. Funny thing is no one else seemed to pick up on it and continued to let him bully them.
       Flip to the world of today and the Christian life. We, when we are in sin are pretty much left alone by Satan because, well he's already got us in his grasp and doesn't need to "Bully"us. Then the spirit of God convicts us of our sin and we decide that we are going to live for Jesus. WELL LOOK OUT BROTHER'S AND SISTER'S,AND LET THE "BULLYING" BEGIN. Another word for 'bullying" is Persecution, which we are told in 2 Timothy 3:12 (NIV) that "Everyone who wants to live a Godly life in Christ Jesus will be Persecuted". Persecution is the mistreatment of an individual or a group of individuals by another group, or individual that inflicts suffering, harassment, isolation, imprisonment, fear, pain or death. Bullying is the repeated aggressive behavior in order to intentionally hurt another person, physically or mentally in order to gain power over them. Hmmm, sounds like the same thing to me, what about you?
      In Matthew 5:10-12 Jesus said "Blessed are they which are persecuted  for Rightousness sake,for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are ye ,when men shall revile you,and persecute you.and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely,for my sake. Rejoice,and be exceedingly glad,for great is your reward in Heaven".That's right we as a Christian man or woman are blessed when we speak out for Christ and th eworld turns around and comes at us, and it will. It may be in the form of a total stranger telling you to shut up for they are tired of hearing about "your Jesus". It might be in the form of a job loss to get you down or a sickness that keeps you from church and church activities.It might even be in the form of your own family telling you that you are getting pushy and shoving Jesus down their throat. What ever the circumstances, remember this,if you are being "bullied" or persecuted then you are doing somethin right in God's eyes and GLORY TO GOD  because your reward in Heaven is getting bigger by the moment. And remember this folk's,when you feel like everyone is on your case about your witness and it feels like you don't have a friend anywhere's at that moment that Jesus told us in John 15:18-20 that "If the world hate you,know that it hated me before it hated you.If ye were of the world,the world would love it's own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world,therfore the world hateth you.Remember the world I said unto you, the servant is not greater than his Lord".
       Brother's and Sister's I don't know about what type of persecution or "Bullying" you are facing or have faced,but I know what I face. As recently as a few days ago I was told to stop being PUSHY and back off, and this was from someone I dearly love, and my response was to let them know that I can't stop and I won't stop spreading the Gospel. I also realized from this person telling me this that A)they need Christ because they are lost, and B) they may have been under a little conviction and just took it out on me. Either way PRAISE THE LORD and bring on the persecution. We serve a Risen Saviour who could prevent the persecution if he so desired but he allows us to go through it so that we grown in him and recognize our blessings as they come. God bless those that read this blog, and for those who may read this but do not kno wJesus as Lord and Saviour but want to, contact me at christcalled@gmail.com and I will pray with you and for you.. You may play on the world's team today but when you come to know Christ you become a new man and join the winning team.

In Christ's Love,
     Bill Roy