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"REJOICE, FOR THEY WILL ALSO PERSECUTE YOU" "Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." (2 Timothy 3:12)No one likes persecution. None of us jump out of bed in the morning and say something like, "Yippee, I think I'll go out today and try to find someone to just persecute the dickens out of me." You can be sure that if your heart's desire is to live for Christ and be a faithful witness to His saving message, you won't have to go out looking for persecution; persecution will find you.Down thru the years, I've heard many a Christian say, in so many words, that their desire is to live the Christian life free from problems and without that stinging whip of persecution laid upon them. But I believe what they really were trying to say is they wish for an easier way to live for Jesus.Now folks, Churches are filled with that easy-going crowd these days who would rather cozy up to those big grinning TV motivational speakers, who think they're preachers and authoring gobs of self-help books, than to read the words of that little tent-making missionary-minded servant of God in the New Testament who wrote, "We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body." (2 Corinthians 4:8-10)It would serve us well to remember that to the worldly-minded crowd, prosperity means living the good life; but to our Saviour, persecution means living the God glorifying and Christ-like life.To be sure, this old world has never been for Jesus Christ; and when they find out that we are for Him, they're not going to throw down the red carpet and go head over heels and be for us either. Do we think for one moment that the world will be any kinder to any of us than it was to our Saviour? Take to heart that which Jesus said just a little while before His Crucifixion, "Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also." (John 15:20)Friends, are you being persecuted for your beliefs? Well then Praise God and rejoice, for a great reward in Heaven awaits those who were and are persecuted for the Lord's sake.