Not Peace, but a Sword

Today in my devotions I was reading Matthew 10:34-39.


The first thing that caught my eye was Christs purpose statement, "Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword." Very interesting, especially considering the Christmas season coming up. My mind immediately leaped to the traditional Christmas carols we all love to sing this time of year that speak of peace, joy, etc, which all probably do their part in contributing to the "Christmasy" atmosphere. Peace and harmony seem to be predominant, at least in proclamation, just about everywhere this season. However, when Christ came 2000 years ago His goal was anything but peace (albeit peace is the end goal and will be accomplished for when He comes again and abolishes all evil).


He goes on to say, "For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person's enemies will be those of his own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me."
No matter how hard we try to apply these verses to our American lives, they are still difficult to understand and apply. It almost sounds like Christ is encouraging teenage rebellion and general dissent! But as I was puzzling over these verses, the thought occurred to me, "What if a believer from, say, a Muslim household was reading these?" All of a sudden it made more sense! These verses have a whole new meaning, because if you become a believer in a Muslim household (and households of many other religions; I'm just using Muslim as an example because I just read a book in which Muslims were a predominant part of the plot line) you are automatically set against your family. In this case, you really would have to make a choice between following Christ or following your family. Who do you love more?


"And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." Again, probably makes more sense if you were born into another religion that hates Christ and the Bible and where persecution is a very real consequence. "Cross" is the symbol for sacrifice and/or suffering. The American application could be: what am I willing to sacrifice for Christ? We have a choice. A Muslim who has converted to Christianity probably doesn't have as much of a choice; sacrifice is going to happen no matter what: relationships, home, business, way of life, perhaps even life.


American believers complain about the double standards against Christianity, how the other belief systems and standards are accepted and tolerated, but ours is not--how our standards seem to be constantly under criticism and attack. Yet, we have to remember that Christ did not bring peace but a sword, even in America, and for now intolerance for the Christian standards is what the sword looks like here. Should we really expect any different?