How Do You Respond When People Make Fun Of You For Doing The Right Thing?

"Blessed are those who are persecuted forLuke says you should "leap for joy" when people hate
righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom ofand exclude you because of your relationship with the
heaven" (Matthew 5:10)."When I had the flu, I gave myLord Jesus. Leap for joy? Yes, because "your reward
sister my Popsicle," says Halle, age 9. "I got ais great in heaven" (Luke 6:23).Only those who are
spanking." Ouch! Halle, I'm sorry your sharing got youbelievers can rejoice in the midst of persecution. They
into trouble. Let's hear from Adrianna, 8: "It meanscan do this because believers filled with God's life can
when people ignore somebody when they're doing thelove and forgive those who hate them. Since Jesus
right thing and don't play with them, God blesses thoserose from the dead and went back to heaven, the
people because they're doing the right thing.""Once IHoly Spirit has been given to live inside every believer.
was opening the door for people, and some teenagersThe power of God's love transforms believers'
were saying that I didn't need to do that," recallshearts.Compassion replaces brutality. Greed gives way
Carson, 9. Three cheers for you, Carson. If you wantto generosity. Understanding prevails over prejudice.
to join the bandwagon, conform to peer pressure andHope drives out despair.Hunter, 10, tells the story of Jim
make decisions based on popularity polls. But if youElliot, a missionary martyr who died in the jungles of
want to do what's right, expect resistance becauseEcuador. "When his wife heard about it, she cried for a
you'll have to go against the crowd.Salmon is mylong time. A few years later, she made a Bible in the
favorite food for three reasons: One, it tastes great;language that the natives spoke in that country."God's
two, it's full of brain food called marine lipids; and three, Ilove came to this remote tribe through Elisabeth Elliot,
like the idea of eating a fish that swims against thethe wife of the man whom they murdered. Only God's
current.Being mocked, ridiculed or socially ostracizedpower working in a person could make that person
for doing what's right is swimming upstream. This isn'tlove those who murdered her husband.Point to ponder:
nonconformity just to be different. It's desiring, thinkingGod rewards those who suffer for doing the right
and acting differently because you're living in athing.Scripture to remember: "Blessed are those who
relationship with a righteous God.Tertullian, a Christianare persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is
leader who lived about 150 years after Jesus, wrote:the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:10).Question to
"We (Christians) have a reputation of living aloof fromconsider: When you suffer for doing what's right, can
crowds."Social life is not all Christians lost in the earlyyou rejoice that God knows and will bless you?Carey
days of the church, says Langdon, 11: "A man namedKinsolving is a syndicated columnist, producer, author,
Paul used to capture people who talked about thespeaker and website developer. To see Carey's Kid
great Jesus Christ. One man named Stephen gotTV Interviews and more, visit The Kids Talk About
stoned and died. One day, Paul changed. He didn'tGod website contains free, online content for children
capture people anymore. He believed in the greatand families. Print free lessons from the "Kids Color Me
Jesus Christ. He went to different countries and citiesBible" and make your own book. Watch for free the
to tell people about Jesus Christ. Many times, he andadventures of an 11-year-old girl traveling around the
his friends got put into jail, but they escaped a lot."Godworld, visiting missionaries in the Mission Explorers
likes paradoxes. He took the greatest persecutor ofStreaming Video. Print Bible pictures drawn by kids that
the early church and transformed him into its mostillustrate Scripture verses. Receive a complimentary,
acclaimed evangelist, the Apostle Paul."People areweekly e-mail subscription to our Devotional Bible
blessed for telling about God even when you might getLessons. Bible quotations in this column are from the
hurt or killed," says Kate, 10. "For this, you will beNew King James Version.
honored." Indeed you will, Kate. In fact, the Apostle