Woe to Me?

“Woe to you when all men speak well of you,
for their fathers used to treat the false prophets in the same way.”  Luke 6:26

         
       Woe to me?!  Woe to me when all speak well of me?  Is that not what I strive for and am afraid of not having?!  Therefore, my heart attitude is contrary to the Word of God here.  I lay this sinful attitude at the foot of the cross to die.   

      We strive toward the goal of not giving anyone anything to speak ill against us, do we not?  And that is a noble goal; we are told to keep our behavior excellent.. so that in the thing in which people may slander us as evildoers, they may on account of our good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of Christ’s coming. _{1 Peter 2:12}   And we are by no means to suffer as a murderer, or thief, or evildoer, or a troublesome meddler; but if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not feel ashamed, but in that name let him glorify God. _{1 Peter 4:15}

But if we let that goal (the goal of people only having good things to say about us) silence us when we need to speak the truth in love or silence us when we need to speak of the hope that we have in Christ Jesus or silence us when our hearers need to know that Jesus loves them and has a plan for their lives and that He is the way, the truth, and the life, and that no one comes to the Father but through Him, then woe to us.

       What else does the Word have to say about this issue?

“Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.  Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” Matthew 5:11-12

“If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.”  1 Peter 4:14

“If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you.  If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.  Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’  If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also.”  John 15:18-20

                May we suffer for the gospel unashamed.
           May we KNOW whom we have believed, and may we be convinced that He is able!  We have been entrusted with a great treasure; may we entrust it to the faithful who will be able to teach others also, and may we suffer hardship as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.   (2 Timothy 1:8,13-14, 2:1-3)

Lord, show us specific areas where we need to change in regard to this attitude.