Freak. Boring. Bible basher. Illogical. Fool. Naive. Mad. Ever been called any of these? I know I have, and from talking to other Christians, it seems to be a recurring problem. I was made fun of at primary school. I was laughed at in secondary school. I was rejected at university. Although I have grown used to the concept of being the odd one out, I can’t help but wonder why it happens.

This passage in Matthew says we should be happy when we are made fun of. How on earth does that work? When people say nasty things about me I want to know why and I want to justify myself. Enjoying it hardly ever comes into the equation. But Jesus is not just talking about any kind of persecution, rather he is referring to those insults we get as a direct result of being His followers.

We are actually in great company when we consider who else has been persecuted for being people of God. For instance, Daniel was thrown into a den of lions for his faith (Daniel 6); Stephen was stoned to death for his belief (Acts 7:54); Peter was imprisoned (Acts 12). And to top it all, Jesus was crucified, taking a punishment for a crime he had not committed – God accused of blasphemy. Throughout the Bible there are stories of how God’s people are persecuted for righteousness, beaten, punished, imprisoned, killed. This can of course be both reassuring and worrying at the same time; we know we are not alone when we are made fun of, but at the same time we could also say it is mostly inevitable that we will be insulted at some stage, no matter who we are.

So why do people feel they need to persecute God’s followers? When God created mankind, He created us in His image. He made us to be like Him, to have a relationship with Him. It is therefore in our nature to want to be spiritual as well as just physical, which is why so many other religions have sprung up to try to fill the gap when God is removed. However, we are also full of greed, envy and selfishness. People without God look at us, seeing that we are happy because we have God, and feel jealous. They envy our strength in Him, our passion for something they haven’t got. But rather than trying to find God, many people opt to try to bring us back down to their level. After all, why change yourself if you can change someone else instead?

That’s all very well, but that in itself doesn’t explain why we should be happy. Or does it? Let’s just look for a moment at what exactly is going on here; people around us who do not know God see that we know God and want to persecute us as a result. The key to this passage is in them seeing God in us. The very fact that people are against us shows that we are on the right track. Our lifestyle is so obviously being lived for God that people can see it plainly. The prophets were persecuted because they were in touch with God. The disciples were persecuted because they were preaching the good news. Jesus was persecuted because he was God. We are persecuted because we are God’s adopted children. If we are showing God in our lives in a way that marks us out as being different, great is our reward in heaven! The reward is not because we are being persecuted, but because we have shown the world that we are prepared to be different and set apart for God, even if that means people around us will be against us.

The other side of this is our spiritual development that happens as a result of being persecuted and challenged. Without being challenged about what you believe, it is all too easy to sit back and think everything is fine and you have no problems with anything you believe, or think you believe. It’s only when someone challenges you about what you believe, and why you believe it, that you really have to think seriously about it. I have certainly found this myself; if it wasn’t for my friend constantly asking complicated questions and challenging everything I said I would never even have considered some aspects of my belief! We are forced into having to find out answers to questions we had never considered, but in doing so we end up becoming even more sure of our faith and even stronger in Christ.

So what happens when someone comes up to you and says “You’re a Christian? You freak! You’re mad!” – don’t run away from that situation! We should rejoice that people can see the difference in us, and that we are not going to be in that situation on our own. We know that the Holy Spirit will guide us, if we ask Him, and that whatever we say or do will be in God’s strength. It can be scary to begin with, as no one likes the floor taken from under them and having complicated questions asked at the most inconvenient times. But we can rest assured that God will not let us tackle those problems alone. Just as God was with the prophets when they were persecuted, just as God was with the disciples when they were imprisoned, just as God was with Jesus as He hung on the cross, so will God be with us when we are mocked, insulted and accused. We have nothing to fear, because we have the almighty God on our side! No one ever said being a Christian was easy, but we do have the great promise that God will never desert us or let us fall. And that is definitely something we can rejoice about!!