Spoken Against

Vance Havner 90x115by Vance Havner

This child is set…for a sign which shall be spoken against. Luke 2:34.

As concerning this sect, we know that everywhere it is spoken against. Acts 28:22.

Blessed are ye when men shall…say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Matthew 5:11.

The Saviour was spoken against. The Sect of His followers was spoken against. The Saints of any age are spoken against. We share His shame and reproach. They hated Him and they will hate us. The world hath hated us because we are not of the world. But if we be reproached as Christians, let us be happy and not ashamed (1 Peter 4:13-16).

The Beatitude of the Spoken Against has two qualifications. We are blessed not merely because we are spoken against. The charges must be false—sometimes what “they say” is true!—and it must be for Christ’s sake.

The trend today is to try to make the Saviour, the Sect, and the Saints popular. But such is not the Scriptural reputation they bear. When the persecuted become the popular they are powerless. The church prospers in persecution, but pines in prosperity.

by Vance Havner

March 2nd, 2013

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We Must Be Content With The Lonely Wilderness

A.B. Simpson Imageby A.B. Simpson

They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way—Psalm 107:4

One who fight the Lord’s battles must be content to die to the favorable opinions of men and the flattery of human praise. We cannot make an exception even in favor of the good opinions of the children of God. It is very easy for the insidious adversary to make this also an appeal to the flesh.

It is all right when God sends us the approval of our fellow men; however, we must never make that approval a motive in our life. All such motives are poison and deprive us of the strength with which we are to give glory to God. Rather, we must be content with the solitary way and the lonely wilderness.

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