Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 5:10
As a rule, do you expect to see a righteous person persecuting another person because the persecuted person is righteous? My guess is “probably not.” If this is true, then what sort of person persecutes another because they are righteous? Again, my guess is that it would have to be an unrighteous person; it stands to reason, right?
God does not bless unrighteousness.
Righteousness happens when a person lives in accordance with the will of God, and when a person lives this way, he or she is considered by God to be “righteous”, and relationship between that person and God is in place; thus in this life such a person is blessed. Theirs is the kingdom of heaven; they are blessed for all eternity and with this, we are back to where we started in 5:3. In our next post, we will see that verses 11-12 expand on this theme to take us to a whole new level of purpose and blessing; see you then!
Life Project Blog 
I have converts from Islam to Christianity in hiding in Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Yemen, Somalia, Jordan, Palestine and Uzbekistan. One in Afghanistan was discovered and had to flee for his life with his wife and four children. A woman in Kurdistan was locked in a room and beaten ever day for two weeks to return to Islam. A man in Iraq was beaten by his wife’s tribe, then she left him with their two children. A man in Palestine lost his job at a university. They are lonely and think they are weak. No, no. They are strong, and they are my heroes.
Wow… mine too!
Their faith is an inspiration!
I know this is a brief overview, but I like this coupled with (post-Calvary) that we cannot attain this righteousness but are counted righteous by our faith in Him, which then opens the door to Spirit power to “do” good. Thoughts? (You probably have this somewhere else already on your blog…)
Yep, at least a few times. 🙂
I’d say you’re right on the money!
I nearly just wrote this same thing