He chose to suffer oppression with God’s people rather than to experience the fleeting enjoyment of sin.
If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.
For it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.
Then Jesus told His disciples, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.
But since he has no root, he remains for only a season. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away.
Now when Daniel learned that the document had been signed, he went into his house, where the windows of his upper room opened toward Jerusalem, and three times a day he got down on his knees, prayed, and gave thanks to his God, just as he had done before.
At this, they yielded to Gamaliel. They called the apostles in and had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and released them.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter.
If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.
Therefore speak to them and tell them that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘When any Israelite sets up idols in his heart and puts a wicked stumbling block before his face, and then comes to the prophet, I the LORD will answer him according to his great idolatry,
For you ask, ‘What does it profit me, and what benefit do I gain apart from sin?’
What man is like Job, who drinks up derision like water?