It is no accident that Jesus moves from “Blessed are the peacemakers…” to “Blessed are those who are persecuted.” However hard we may try to make peace with some people, they refuse to live at peace with us.

These are the standards of conduct in the beatitudes…

• Be Merciful – Offering compassion & forgiveness (even to those “undeserving”).
• Be Pure in Heart – Refusing to compromise our convictions or integrity.
• Be Peacemakers by identifying & curing “the disease of the soul” instead of just applying salve to symptoms.

When Christians live by these standards, we live at odds with the culture of our time because those values & standards stand in direct conflict with the contemporary culture. Therefore, because the culture of the world rejects these, they also reject those who are uncompromising of Christ & His values & standards.