Don’t imagine that I came to bring peace to the earth! I came not to bring peace, but a sword.Jesus promises peace in your heart to all who accept him, the peace that the apostle Paul said passed understanding. When he lives in our hearts, he quiets the conflict between our spirit and the devil’s spirit. He replaces the devil’s spirit with his own Holy Spirit. And he give us peace.
‘I have come to set a man against his father,
a daughter against her mother,
and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.
Your enemies will be right in your own household!’
(Matthew 10:35-37)
But the gospel of Jesus Christ did not bring peace to the world like some think it should.
Any time Jesus is preached, there is conflict. That’s because people do not want to hear the gospel message. They do not want Jesus. Preach Jesus in Muslim countries, or Hindu countries or atheist countries and see what happens. Those who preach are imprisoned, tortured, beaten.
The world doesn’t want the gospel because the devil rules the world. The Spirit of God is not welcome in the world. And when it comes, there is strife.
Again, that is why Hollywood cannot make a decent Christian movie. They do not understand nor accept the Spirit of God. They see it as a danger to all they want to do and try their level best to stop it.
It is always a surprise to a new Christian when he gets push-back from his first attempts at evangelism. He many times cannot figure out why.
But you have to remember that Jesus not only got push-back, he got killed for doing what he was doing. The world thought they were getting rid of him and, when they try to stop those who teach him, they think they are stopping the gospel.
The problem is, of course (for them), is that the gospel of the grace of Jesus Christ cannot be stopped. It is immutable, it is unchangeable, it is unstoppable.
The sad thing is that you may lose your own family over it. But even though you may lose everything, you still have that internal peace. That peace he promises.
But don’t be surprised when the world hates what you say. They hated what Jesus said, too.
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