“I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing! - Luke 12:49

  • The gospel for today speaks mostly about division and Jesus being the cause of division. It's really quite a shocker isn't it? To be honest, this gospel really got me vexed for the entire week. I couldn't quite grasp it and I've spent countless hours just trying to get to the core of it. I mean, JESUS BEING THE CAUSE OF DIVISION...?? Wouldn't that be contrary to His other teachings? You would think that Jesus would be the cause of unity, peace, mercy, compassion, forgiveness, etc... but DIVISION? It's a bit hard to believe isn't it?
  • "Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division." It may be hard to believe but it is what Jesus said. It is in the Bible, it is the Word of God, and we have to deal with it. The thing is, Jesus would never sugarcoat things for us. He will never just tell us what we want to hear, instead, He will tell us exactly what we need to hear. And we NEED to hear the truth whether we like it or not. Indeed, God's truth will divide us. As a matter of fact, if you look around us today, it has already started to divide us. Take the RH Bill for example; there are those who are in favor of it, and there are those who oppose it as our own sense of morality dictates us. We will be divided by God's truth because His truth will separate right from wrong, good from bad, evil from righteousness. There will be those who wll choose Jesus and there will be those who won't. God will confront us with the truth and we're going to have to respond. Jesus will be testing us to know where we stand. There is no neutral ground. It's only either we're against Jesus, or we are with Him. We can only either reject the truth, or accept it. 
    Divisions within the family and the society are often the results from the difficult decisions we have to make. Not everyone will choose Jesus. Not everyone will be strong enough to endure the truth. And those who oppose Jesus will also oppose those who chose Jesus. But when we commit ourselves to Christ, we must be ready to let go and be separated from those who go against Him, even if those people are very dear to our hearts. Going back to our theme: We seek what is above when we persevere and fix our eyes to Jesus. We followers of Christ, stand for something we believe that is of greater consequences. And if we are to seek greater things that is not of the earth but of heaven above, then we must learn to let go of whatever anchors us down. If we are to take up our cross, take up common cause with Jesus and wage a righteous battle against all evil, then we must equip ourselves with God's word and God's truth. It's never going to be easy. Remember that this is a spiritual warfare and we will be oppressed just as Jesus had been in His days. But know that, in our suffering, we are never alone. My comfort in my suffering is this: God's promise preserves my life. So get up, be comforted, take heart and keep fighting the good fight! For the Lord heard my cry. He drew me out of the pit of destruction; He made firm my steps. Indeed, it's going to be difficult, but always remember that God will never leave us nor forsake us. And if God is with us, then who can be against us?

    - Sweet Labang

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