The world considers those “blessed” who are secure and popular and live at ease, not those who have to suffer persecution.
Jesus added to the list of the Beatitudes the inevitability of persecution. Matthew 5:11 says, “Blessed are you when mean people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.”
The first part of the Ninth Beatitude is similar to the Eighth Beatitude, but the second part is quite different. “Blessed are you when they say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake.”
How should Christians respond to this persecution? When false stories are being told about you, when people seek to ruin your reputation by spreading all kinds of lies about you, that is when you need self-control. And self-control is a fruit of the Holy Spirit, when we’re leaning on Jesus Christ. We can still take it when we are correctly accused. We can still be gentle when the facts are true. But we can’t accept it when people slander us and say false things about us. We are angry and we just want to strike back. That is the time when we most desperately need self-control. Don’t let your anger get out of control. Don’t lose your temper. Those responses will not bring glory to God.
In The Beatitudes: The Only Way to Happiness, John MacArthur points out, “If Christians in our culture were more confrontive about what they believe, and if they really lived the fullness of the Beatitudes, they would find more hostility. In fact, Jesus describes the three different kinds of persecution—insults, persecution, and false accusations—we should expect.”
Click here for more from John MacArthur’s The Beatitudes: The Only Way to Happiness