"I did not come to bring peace, but a sword." Matthew 10:34
When I read today's entry in My Utmost For His Highest, it struck me (no pun intended) pretty hard. I guess because it's Christmas time and we are thinking of Jesus as happy, joyful, soft and sweet in a Silent Night and Away In A Manger kind of way. But we aren't so much thinking about a warrior baby Jesus with a sword in his hand armed and ready to fight with us and fight for us. At least I wasn't. Until now...
This verse totally applies to Christmas if we are going to celebrate Christ's birth for the real reason He came. If we could have peace without Him, true and eternal peace, why did He bother? Maybe Christ didn't come to bring us peace exactly, but He did come to bring us the sword of reconciliation and redemption to cut deep and rid us of all the bad parts that keep us separated from the Father, which will eventually bring us peace - eternal peace. Yeah, I want that.
Anyway, I struggle with peace at times. I'm mostly peaceful and mostly confident that God is in control but I often hold on to things that I'm not willing to give up or just don't think about giving up because I'm too busy and I lose my focus. In comes the sword...
Today's My Utmost entry says:
"People want the blessing of God, but they can't stand something that pierces right through to the heart of the matter."
"If we could be truly happy and moral without Jesus, then why did He come? He came because that kind of happiness and peace is only superficial. Jesus Christ came to "bring... a sword" through every kind of peace that is not based on a personal relationship with Himself."
Today's entry also says that "If a person cannot go to God, it is because he has something secret which he does not intend to give up - he may admit his sin, but would no more give up that thing than he could fly under his own power."
So today, I ask myself these questions. What am I holding on to that I won't let go of? Am I getting a sword in my stocking?
5 comments:
Thank you Andrea! Your family is beautiful, and your words blessed me tremendously today.
Heather
Great post, thanks for sharing. I know there's crap that I keep holding on to that I need to cut out, let go & live. Silly that it really isn't even something against me, but I want to be righteous judge. Melissa & I were talking yesterday waiting on kids and she shared with me something Julius said about forgiving and it hit her & through her hit me, then your post - more confirmation that I need to cut it out!
Glad you stopped by, Heather.
Sorry to heap on the conviction, Cyndi. :)
Please share what Julius said if you can.
Julius was talking about his family having their cow stolen. They found out who stole the cow and Melissa was asking what happened to the person, did he get in trouble....No, we forgave him! Gee it still gets me a boy who can say - we forgave him!
That's impressive when you think about how important that cow was for them. It would be like stealing our car or something.
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