“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.” Matthew 5:11 NIV
This verse is not considered to be an additional Beatitude because it does not follow the pattern of a virtue and then a reward for having the virtue, as the other 8 do. It is considered to be an extension of the final Beatitude in verse 10. Either way, I feel that this verse needs to be paid attention to because this is still a blessing coming from Jesus. As Christians we have a choice everyday, actually moment to moment each day, about how we are going to live and what we are going to show others.
If we choose to live life in such a way that no one ever knows that we are Christians, then we are not living for Jesus. If we do not show the “Love of God” to others, we are not following the commandment of “Love one another” that Jesus gave His disciples. That commandment still applies today to each believer. It did not disappear when Jesus ascended into heaven.
When we live life showing others the “Love of God” and making the right and most of the time hard choice about behaviors, we are going to anger our enemy. The devil does not like it when we are committed to Jesus and live life trying to imitate Jesus. He will do his best to have people in our lives who will insult us, who will persecute us and who will say false things about us simply because we worship Jesus. This verse states that we are blessed with that happens.
It does not feel like a blessing when it is happening, but Jesus sees what each one of us is going through and He is there with us every step of the way. When the devil ups his game and tries new tactics such as placing people in our lives to insult us or falsely accuse us, we need to remember that he is doing this because we are a threat to him. If we didn’t pose any kind of threat to the devil, then he would not even bother with us.
Even though it is not considered an additional Beatitude and it doesn’t seem like a blessing when we are being insulted, having the character trait of courage to openly declare your allegiance to Jesus is how the world is to be. It is how God planned the world to be in the first place, glorifying and honoring God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit.
So, if you are being insulted, persecuted, or falsely accused, please turn to God in prayer and ask for His strength to get you through the situation you are in. He knows why it is happening and God is blessing you by making you stronger because you are walking or have walked through it relying on him.