Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven.”
Matthew 5:11-12 (NIV)
When people criticize you for living a life that is pleasing to God, remember: You have a great reward waiting for you in heaven.
The Bible says, “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven” (Matthew 5:11-12 NIV).
Focusing on eternity is the antidote to insult and ridicule. Because the opinions of others won’t last. Their disapproval won’t last. Yes, you can listen to their opinions, but don’t overvalue what they say.
The only thing that will last is God’s church. Only God’s family will be in heaven forever. That’s why you don’t want to waste your life worrying about what people say about you. Instead, God wants you to spend your days doing the things that pleases him—using the gifts, talents, and abilities he’s given you to worship him and make an eternal difference with your life.
If God likes what you’re doing, then you know you’re doing the right thing. Imagine how simplified your life would be if you lived for an audience of One!
But so often you care too much about what people think, and you put yourself at the mercy of their judgments. If someone thinks you’re a loser, then you must be a loser. If someone thinks you’re odd, then you must be odd.
Paul said, “What I want is God’s approval! Am I trying to be popular with people? If I were still trying to do so, I would not be a servant of Christ” (Galatians 1:10 GNT).
Globalization and the attendant concerns about poverty and inequality have become a focus of discussion in a way that few other topics, except for international terrorism or global warming, have. Most people have a strong opinion on globalization, and all of them express an interest in the well-being of the world's poor. The financial press and influential international officials confidently assert that global free markets expand the horizons for the poor, whereas activist-protesters hold the opposite belief with equal intensity. Yet the strength of people's conviction is often in inverse proportion to the amount of robust factual evidence they have.As is common in contentious public debates, different people mean different things by the same word. Some interpret "globalization" to mean the global reach of communications technology and capital movements, some think of the outsourcing by domestic companies in rich countries, and others see globalization as a byword for
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