1 Peter 4:14

Plain English Version

Maybe people are making fun of you because you follow Jesus. But don’t worry, it shows that God is happy with you, and that God’s spirit is with you. His spirit is great and has a lot of power.

Cross References

Matthew 5:11

And you too. Some people will not like you following me, and they will say bad things about you, and they will make trouble for you. Sometimes people will tell lies about you. But don’t worry. Be really happy when they do that.

Matthew 5:16

You have to be like that candle. You have to let everyone see that you are following me. They will see all the good things you do, and they will say good things about God, your father in heaven. They will say, ‘God is really great.’ ”

John 15:21

You are my followers, that’s the reason why some people will make trouble for you. You see, they don’t know God. He is the one that sent me here.

John 8:48

The Jewish leaders told him, “Hey, you are wrong. We always reckoned that you are a rubbish man from Samaria, and you’ve got a bad spirit inside you. And we are right.”

John 9:28

The Jewish leaders got angry with the man and said, “You are his follower, not us. We follow Moses.

John 9:34

The Jewish leaders got really angry and said, “Don’t try to teach us. You were born blind, so we know that you always went against God and did bad things. You can’t teach us anything. Get out of this meeting house, and don’t come back.”

Acts 13:45

But the Jewish leaders saw those big mobs of people, and they got really jealous. They started saying bad things to the people about Paul, and they told them, “Paul is telling lies. His message about Jesus is not true.”

Acts 18:6

But those Jewish people wouldn’t listen to Paul, and they said bad things about him. So Paul shook the dirt from his clothes, to show them that they were wrong, and he said to them, “I told you God’s good news, but you didn’t listen. So you can’t blame me for anything that happens to you now. You can only blame yourselves. From now on, I will go and tell God’s word to the people that are not Jews.”

Acts 28:22

But we know that people in a lot of places don’t agree with the Christians, so we want to hear what you have to say.”

Acts 5:41

So Jesus’s special workers left that meeting, and they were very happy. They knew that God reckoned they were good enough to feel pain for Jesus, and to be shamed for following him, so they were happy, even though the soldiers hit them.

Galatians 1:24

Those Christians heard that I changed, and they were happy, and they thanked God and said that he is really great.

James 1:12

If God lets people test you, to see if you trust him properly, don’t give up trusting him. After God sees that you keep on trusting him, he will give you new life, so that you will live with him for ever. He promised to do that for everybody that loves him.

James 5:11

They didn’t give up, so now we respect them, and we say they were good people. Remember the story about Job. He was a good man, but he got a lot of trouble. But he kept on following God, and in the end, God made everything good for him. So we know that God always feels sorry for his people when they get trouble, and he will be very good to them.

1 Peter 2:12

You live in the same place with people that don’t follow Jesus. So you have to make up your mind to always do things that are good. Sometimes people might tell lies and blame you and say you have done wrong. But if you always keep on doing whatever is right, they will see that you do good things. Later, after God comes to judge everybody, they will remember the good things you did, and they will respect him.

1 Peter 3:14

But sometimes, even if you do what’s right, some people will make trouble for you. If that happens, don’t be frightened of them and don’t worry about anything they might do to you, because God will be very good to you.

1 Peter 3:16

Tell them clearly, and respect them as you talk to them. Make sure you always live the right way, so you don’t feel shame. Some people rubbish Christians, but if they see you doing the right things, they will feel shame about themselves.

1 Peter 4:16

But if people give you trouble because you follow Jesus, don’t feel shame. No. Just thank God that you belong to Jesus.

2 Peter 2:2

Those liars will teach people to do bad things, and a lot of people will listen to them and do those bad and dirty things. And if people that are not Christians see that, they will rubbish God and his true way.