by Chadwick Brewer<\/p>\n
“Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you<\/em>” (I John 3:13).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Christians are disdained and hated for their strong convictions of faith, radical morality, and different way of life. In a world of political correctness, it is still socially acceptable to mock and denigrate Christians. When Christians are maligned and mistreated, there is a natural tendency to play the victim card, have self-pity, and say, “Woe is me.” But playing the victim has two major problems.<\/p>\n
First, being the victim can inhibit our growth and work in Christ. Our focus and energy turn inward rather than outward toward others and upward toward the prize of Jesus’ call. We shrink away from the things that cause mistreatment. We become silent and tend to try to fit in and conform to this world. We have to stop viewing ourselves as the victim and get back to work.<\/p>\n
Second, we fail to rejoice in our sufferings for Christ. The apostles rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer for Christ. Paul tells the Colossians that he rejoices in his sufferings for their sake. Jesus praised the church at Smyrna for standing firm in their tribulations. James tells us to rejoice when we meet trials. And here John tells us not to be surprised. By being the victim, we miss the blessings God has for us in those moments of hardship.<\/p>\n
Don’t play the victim. Rejoice and keep up the good work for the kingdom.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Chadwick Brewer “Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you” (I John 3:13). Christians are disdained and hated for their strong convictions of faith, radical morality, and different way of life. In a world of political correctness, it is still socially acceptable to mock and denigrate Christians. When Christians are maligned and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[572],"class_list":["post-98176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-persecution"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":70166,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/christian-victim-card\/","url_meta":{"origin":98176,"position":0},"title":"Christian Victim Card","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 4, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Chadwick Brewer \"Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you\" (I John 3:13). Christians are disdained and hated for their strong convictions of faith, radical morality, and different ways of life. In a world of political correctness, it is still socially acceptable to mock and denigrate Christians.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5133,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-about-people-who-play-the-victim-card\/","url_meta":{"origin":98176,"position":1},"title":"What about people who play the victim card?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 25, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, I was wondering what the Bible has to say about those who play the victim card to deceive people. Answer: All lying is wrong, regardless of the motivation behind the lies (Proverbs 6:16-19; Revelation 21:8). Thus, to do something with the intent of deceiving people is sinful. There\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":58679,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/dont-be-a-victim\/","url_meta":{"origin":98176,"position":2},"title":"Don’t Be a Victim","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 4, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0by Perry Hall The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), in modern lingo, teaches these two counter-culture concepts: Suffering doesn't make you a victim when you find your blessing from God and not circumstances. Victimizing others doesn't make you powerful when your victims refuse to get their dignity through your\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":61063,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-have-penitentiaries-anyway\/","url_meta":{"origin":98176,"position":3},"title":"Why Have Penitentiaries Anyway?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 29, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Samuel G. Dawson Most people realize that the court and penal systems in North America are seriously broken and must be fixed, yet contemplating doing away with penitentiaries sounds ridiculous, doesn't it? Barely 200 years ago, an experiment began which has cost us untold billions of dollars. Just last\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/05\/Prisoner.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":14239,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-you-know-if-you-were-a-victim-of-witchcraft\/","url_meta":{"origin":98176,"position":4},"title":"How do you know if you were a victim of witchcraft?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 24, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How do you know if you were a victim of witchcraft? Answer: The Bible consistently describes witchcraft as fakery. The very word in the Hebrew language means a person who obscures or clouds another person's sight and acts covertly. In other words, witchcraft is the practice of deceiving other\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":86693,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-jesus-death-stands-out\/","url_meta":{"origin":98176,"position":5},"title":"Why Jesus’ Death Stands Out","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 19, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Tommy Peeler In the first century, thousands were crucified. \"During the last siege of Jerusalem, hundreds of crosses daily arose, till there seemed not sufficient room nor wood for them\" (Alfred Edersheim). Of those thousands crucified, how many of the victims could you name? If crucifixion was such a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98176"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98176\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98179,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98176\/revisions\/98179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}