We can expect to be reviled if we are disciples of Jesus. However, when we recognize that the spiritual and eternal rewards are great, we will be able to respond joyfully as Jesus commanded: “Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you” (Matthew 5:11–12).
Often we are rewarded in the very areas in which we are reviled. For example, Joseph’s brothers reviled him for dreaming that one day he would be a great leader. They put him in a pit and sold him as a slave while saying, “We shall see what will become of his dreams” (Genesis 37:20). Jesus was reviled on the cross for saying, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19). In both cases, the ones who did the reviling were used of God to fulfill His plans in the lives of those who were reviled.
