Today’s Encouragement is Luke 12:51 [Jesus said] “Do you suppose that I came to grant peace on earth? I tell you, no, but rather division.”
Division –
Remember beauty pageants? Remember the contestants, with stars-in-eyes, and with radiant smile she said, with a tear or two for dramatic effect, “I just want peace on earth!”
We all smile, nod, and agree; we all want peace on earth, sprinkled with some butterflies, flowers, and sunshine please …
But! Jesus Himself said He came to divide! Families, neighborhoods, nations, but not on the basis of race, politics or culture… on the basis of Faith! We who believe in Him follow His Way; a distinctively different way from the way of the world or other belief systems. And my friends, His way makes those ‘outside’ very uncomfortable. They are not pleased with our faith rather they are repulsed by it. The world sees us as fools.
His Way is peace within, not a peace we conjure by meditation or any of our own efforts, but His Perfect Peace. Consider John 16:33 “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
In me you may have …peace. And in the world – trouble.
Not of this world
Petra
Today’s Encouragement 