Blessers

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. – Romans 12.14

The notion of persecution for the church in the west is something we have not thought about much, at least not in my lifetime or the places I have lived. I have never suffered real persecution. I may have had people mock me or make fun of me. We think persecution is when a boss won’t allow us to take a Sunday off or a baker must make a cake he disagrees with.

We do though get that petty opposition that can be frustrating. People attack us for our faith or our ideas or our stands against sin. People can be ugly and its not easy to take. How are we to respond?

I fear that the natural inclination is to respond in kind. Those who hate us deserve to be hated back. Those who say bad things about us deserve to have us respond with bad things. They can’t get away with that, after all.

That’s not God’s way. His way says ‘don’t respond in kind.’

When people curse us we are to bless them.

How do we do that?

We can only do that by following the spirit instead of the flesh. The flesh calls out for payback. The spirit begs us to act like Christ and pour out blessings on our revilers.

The church needs a change in this world where social media is quick to ignite fires of discord. No matter where, in real life or in this crazy new online world our response to people matters and makes a difference.

God makes us blessers instead of cursers.