“If you be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye: for the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you: on their part He is evil spoken of, but on your part He is glorified” (1 Peter 4:14).

I was very, very young when I first learned the glorious truth that the Lord Jesus is coming again. I may not have been very tactful as a pre-teen, but I was so excited that I went next door in my neighborhood with the wonderful truth that the Lord Jesus is coming again. I was crushed that my message of the second coming wasn’t well received!  The Bible says so and they needed to know! It was my first tiny, tiny taste of being “reproached.”

To be honest with you, I have tasted very little of genuine reproach compared to the severe price other believers are paying around the world. This I do know for sure, whatever we face for the witness of Christ, may we have the reaction of which Peter spoke. We need to remember what our Savior experienced and count it a joy whatever we might experience for His name.

It is still the same today: Through the ages, God’s people have stood and been willing to suffer reproach. May we have the same grace to do the same thing.