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This week we are concluding our studies in Luke Chapter 12. Please read verses 49-59 every day this week and, if possible, use a different translation each day, asking God to open your eyes to fresh revelation from His Word.
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Luke 12:51-53 (NIV)
‘Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”’
I’m quite sure, that you will have heard the occasional preacher offer hope to the hearers by giving words of comfort and encouragement. Some will try to reassure you that all will be well in your circumstance, while others will boldly state that if you ‘come to Jesus’, all your worries and concerns will be a thing of the past. Your financial difficulties will cease, your relationships will be healed and your health will be better than it has ever been.
This form of ‘prosperity gospel’ wants you to accept that it is God’s will for you to be happy and successful. While I am in agreement with aspects of this, my main problem is that the focus tends to move from the ‘Giver’ of all good things and shifts the attention on to the ‘things’ themselves. Many people are encouraged to give and give in order to receive more and more. I see that as a very dangerous road to go down. In other words, money becomes more important than the God who blesses us. Perhaps the main ‘motto’ of Oasis Community Church is ‘Blessed Beyond Measure’ and I firmly believe in a God who never fails to meet the needs of His people. He is Jehovah Jireh –the Provider. He is also referred to in the Scripture as ‘The Prince of Peace’.
Knowing that, perhaps it comes as a bit of a shock to see the blatant paradox in our verses today. It could be that you’re taken aback when reading the words of Jesus today. “Do you think that I came to bring peace on earth? No…but rather division”. Surely this cannot be right? Perhaps you’re saying “If God is a God who wants to bless me, why do I not have money this month?”. Or even “If He says that He’s the Prince of Peace, then why aren’t all my relationships healed?”
Firstly, it must be understood that in the context Jesus is speaking allegorically. When He refers to ‘bringing fire on the earth’ in earlier verses, we understand Him to be speaking of judgement and not literal fire. When He spoke of being ‘baptised’, He was referring to the suffering and death that He was to endure. Very often, this kind of allegory places an emphasis on one aspect of the truth and not on the other proposition that is also valid. I believe that one of the main reasons for using such terms is to make the reader stop and think. Jesus is certainly the one who brings peace into our spiritual existence. Without Him, we would be lost for all eternity. He came to reconcile us to the Father. However, even with the most superficial study of the Scripture we see that He did indeed bring division. If not, surely ALL men would be saved. Every one of the Pharisees would have experienced the same experience as Saul of Tarsus. Clearly that is not so and therefore we have to conclude that division is to be expected. Faith does indeed bring division between one race and another, between once people and another, even between one church and another. To one person, Christ is a ‘rock of offence’, but to those who believe in Him, He is precious.
My prayer today is that we have faith to believe that God will restore, reconcile and bless every aspect of our lives. However, our faith should remain resolute even in the toughest of times. Always trusting, Always believing.
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