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!