Christian Conflict!

Being a Christian is not an easy task and nowhere in the Bible does it say that being a Christian will make one’s earthly life “better” or “easy”. One of the first things most people encounter when they confess Christ as Lord and Saviour is persecution by the ones closest to them, even y their own family. We are warned about this in Matthew 10:32-39:

Mt 10:32 Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. Mt 10:33 But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven. Mt 10:34 Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. Mt 10:35 For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. Mt 10:36 And a man's foes shall be they of his own household. Mt 10:37 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Mt 10:38 And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. Mt 10:39 He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

Muslims often try to use verse 34 to show that Jesus did not preach peace but violence on earth. If you read this verse alone and without context it may lead one to believe the Islamic point of view. If though, we read the verses before and after we can see that Jesus is actually saying that by believing in Him others will turn against the believer and will turn violent against them. Just look at what happens when a Muslim accepts Jesus, Islamic law states that an apostate must be killed. This is confirmed in the Hadiths as well.

People resist Christ because he is the true light that exposes sins. The Apostle John wrote that “For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved” - John 3:20. And also “If the world hates you, ye know that it hateth me before it hateth you” – John 15:18.

People are willing to put up with any religion or spiritual belief as long as it is not Christianity. The proof of this is people’s negative reaction to someone confessing that they are a practicing Christian and that Jesus is their saviour and Lord.

“If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you” – John 15:19

In conclusion, we need to put up with ridicule and persecution for Christ, just as the apostles did, the martyrs of the Church and more over for the fact that Jesus died for our sins while we were and still are unworthy of repentance and forgiveness. Amen.