So often we hear people boasting of their blessing of a new house or a trip or some other material possession, even the healing from an illness. Yes, these things are blessings and we are grateful to God for them. However, if our focus about blessings in continually on what we can get from God then it is a selfish focus and fleshly.
We are blessed but if the focus is on our blessing of physical and material things more than Christ we are no better than an unbeliever.
Many people have been martyred down through the centuries for their faith, would we say they are not blessed? The greatest blessing anyone has is our salvation through faith in Christ. That should be our focus all the time. And, it is an amazing blessing to be martyred for our faith because God says it comes with it a great reward.
Matthew 5:10-12
"Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven".
Matthew 5:11-12
11 "Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you."
We are grateful to God for all His blessings, but the physical blessings should not overtake our gratefulness to the exclusion of the gratefulness for our Salvation and His companionship within us.
We can endure anything when Christ goes through with us. He is our strength and purpose, not the "things" or the "activities that we enjoy."
Acts 16:25-26
"25 Now about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them; 26 and suddenly there was a great earthquake so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s chains were unfastened."
Our modern Christianity would focus entirely on the miracle of the quake and miss the joy and peace of Paul and Silus through their prison experience. They did not sit in that prison alone, Christ was with them.
We don't see Paul and Silas asking for the great earthquake but we saw them praising God in the midst of their trials ready to endure whatever Christ had for them. They were blessed by what God did in that quake, but they were ready to die for Him in prison.
When the physical and material become the focus of life then we miss the wonderful lessons and Spiritual strengthening God has for us and possible rewards that were prepared for us in heaven.
Revelation 6:11
"11 Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been."
When we take our eyes off of this world and place them on our mission here we can endure anything while Christ goes through with us.
Someone expressed to me they didn't know if they had the strength to be killed for Christ. I told them they did not, because God will give us what we need when we need it. Planning for persecution in our human strength is nothing but trusting in Christ to go through with us is everything.
We can even have joy in the midst of our tears as our body suffers but our Spirit soars.
Job 32:8
"But it is the spirit in man, the breath of the Almighty, that makes him understand"
1 Peter and 2 Peter: were written to believers during persecution, they encourage us to seek the strength of the Holy Spirit as we endure until Christ comes for us.
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