Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth (Matthew 10:34).
There are a lot of well-intentioned Christians who get confused and are pridefully divisive in their self-righteous judgment of others. In their blindness to their own sin, they are quick to point out the sins of others. In that process, they become divisive, and then they often take on a martyr complex. “Oh, I’m being persecuted for my faith.” Really? I doubt it. They’re probably just being persecuted because they’re jerks!
But Christ does want us to understand that when we trust in the person of Jesus Christ and then claim what He claims about Himself—that our ultimate goal is not to be peacemakers—it will not be an easy road.
There is a lot of focus these days on unity. This concept of unity is a big deal to a lot of church folks. (“Hey, can’t we all just get along?”) But understand this: when church folks take on the mindset that unity is more important than truth, they have completely misunderstood the person of Jesus Christ! He was very clear that when He comes into a person’s life, there will be a lack of peace in certain relationships because some are for Him and some are not. There will be division. When we follow Christ, we’re going to face ridicule, division, and sometimes even persecution. It all comes with the package.
