How to Rejoice in Hardship

Hardship can take a toll on our body, mind, and spirit. If you don’t know how to handle, it can cost you your health, relationship, and leadership.

As you all know, my father was imprisoned in Burma for being a Christian philanthropist. When he talked about his experience, he said it was the most humiliating and hellish place on earth. Even though he was strong in spirit and he could handle a lot of hardship, his grief against the injustice had taken a serious toll on his health for years after is release. For the rest of his life, he struggled with the symptoms of PTSD-Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Hardship is not easy to cope with especially when it is unjustly hurled against you. If you are doing the right things in life, you expect good things in return. However, life just doesn’t work that way. The karma is not always true in this fallen world. Not everything that goes around comes around.

You’ve heard the saying, “No good deed goes unpunished.” It sounds cynical, but when it falls on you, how would you handle it?

You might be surprised to hear Jesus said that the way to respond to such kind of hardship is by rejoicing,

“Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets.” (Lk 6:22–23).

Can you imagine that, he wants you to “leap for joy” in such situation? How can you leap for joy when people treat you unjustly? Some psychologists says, Jesus fits the descriptions of certain mental illness. Years ago, I read in the news about a group of British psychologists diagnosed Jesus to be mentally ill and one of the reasons is this particular teaching—he asked people to rejoice when they are persecuted.

Do you remember that in Mark 3:21, Jesus own family said that “He was out of his mind.”

So, since we are dealing with this passage again this week, I looked for that piece of article. Nowadays, it’s easy to find everything online. I found a list of psychologists that believe Jesus is mentally ill and also a list of psychologists that found Jesus is perfectly healthy. The good news is that those who believe Jesus is healthy include some prominent psychologists like Albert Schweizer and Walter Bundy.

There’s a new book that came out recently written by a couple of Psychologists defending Jesus’ mental health. The Title of the book is “Mad or God? Jesus: The Healthiest Mind of All.” So, it’s settled.

Now the question is how to understand why Jesus taught us to rejoice in hardship. The truth is, only joy can counter the destructive nature of hardship. It’s like a hard blow against the evil that wants to pin us down with injustice. The devil wants you to be sad and sorrowful. The only way to counter that devil is with a leap of joy—a positive mental attitude.

Let’s dig deep into this passage to find out exactly how Jesus expects us to handle hardships based on Luke 6:20-26, knowns as the lesson on Blessings and Woes. There are 3 spiritual wisdoms we can draw from this passage.

1. See the world with a higher level of consciousness

We must have a higher level of consciousness than the common people. According to the common consciousness, being poor, hungry, weeping, and persecuted are bad, but from Jesus’ higher level of consciousness, these are blessings because hardship stimulates spiritual growth and lifts your life to a higher level of living known as the kingdom of God.

Again, from the common consciousness, being rich, full, laughing, praised is good, but from Christ’s level of consciousness, these things are woes because they stifle spiritual growth.

The point is if you discern the events of the world from human level, you will see only the surface, but if you look at it from the spiritual level, or a higher level of consciousness like Jesus did, you can give the hardship a hard blow with your leap of joy.

2. Recognize that sinful people hate prophets

The second wisdom is that we must recognize that sinful people hate prophets. You are a prophet if you follow Jesus Christ. Jesus was teaching the disciples, not to the general public, in this passage. Jesus regards his disciples as prophets, according to verses 20 and 23.

What is a prophet? A prophet is someone who gives voice to the Truth, embodies Christ’s Way, and lives a Life according to the new reality known as the kingdom of God. A prophet is someone who walks in the light and shines the light into the darkness.

Jesus said, “for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets.” (v. 23b). Jesus saying don’t be surprised that the darkness doesn’t like to see your light because it makes them uncomfortable. Many prophets in history were beaten, imprisoned, or murdered. Jesus himself was crucified. So, there is no surprise that prophets are hated by the sinful people. If you accept this reality, you can ignore the noises and give your hardship a big blow with your leap of joy.

(The story of the man and the wolves.)

3. Live for the audience of one

The third wisdom is that we must live for the audience of one. When you are hated, excluded, reviled, and defamed because of your prophetic living, you face the hardship on account of the Son of Man. When the world turns against you, there’s only one person that matters—the one that gave his life for you, the one that has redeemed you and forgiven you, the one that shows you that you are loveable, and that you are worth dying for.

Don’t give up or give in but rejoice instead. He said you should leap for joy because your reward is great in heaven. That great reward is God’s love. Nothing is a more precious reward than being loved by God. The Apostle Paul said, “If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” (Ro 8:31–32 ESV). His love is the only thing you need, and it is already given to you.

So, if you live for the audience of one, you can rejoice and leap for joy. The phrase “leap for joy” was also mentioned at the beginning of Luke, when John the Baptist leaped for joy in his mother’s womb when he heard that Jesus came to visit. We know the life of John the Baptist. He tried to please nobody but lived only for the audience of one—Jesus Christ.

Conclusion:

So, when you go through hardship for living a prophetic life as a follower of Jesus Christ, you can rejoice and even leap for joy by applying these three spiritual wisdoms:

1) See the world with a higher level of consciousness

2) Recognize that sinful people hate prophets

3) Live for the audience of one

As Paul said from his prison cell, “Rejoice always, and again I say rejoice!” That will upset the devil.

Until we meet again, keep cultivating a fruitful life. I’m Sam Stone. Amen!