“Blessed are you when men hate you, And when they exclude you, And revile you, and cast out your name as evil, For the Son of Man’s sake. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy! For indeed your reward is great in heaven, For in like manner their fathers did to the prophets.” (Luke 6:22-23)
The Joy that Jesus and His Spirit gives us can’t be taken away by persecution (2Cor. 7:4; 8:2; 1Thess. 1:6; Heb. 12:2; James 1:2-4). Notice that the persecution Jesus is talking about is our suffering for His sake, not because of carnal choices we have made! When we’re persecuted for His sake, Jesus tells us to rejoice and leap for joy! How can we do that? By focusing more on the eternal than the temporal – “For indeed your reward is great in heaven.” We can count it joy when we face trials because we know that trials, when responded to correctly, bring a refining of our faith (James 1:2-4)! Next time you’re facing trials or being persecuted, count it all joy – leap for joy!