Reading in Matthew 10 today, and having a hard time staying focused (the Friday morning "I'm just so tired" feeling). I was struck by these verses, spoken by Jesus (Matthew 10:34-39):
"Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. 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. 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."
Many people seem to want to classify Jesus as a good teacher or wise man. Most of us have probably read of heard of C.S. Lewis' reasonings about how Jesus is either a liar, a lunatic, or the Lord, and that there is no room for anything else. In fact, that supposition was one of the factors in my accepting the truth of Jesus. These verses also leave little wiggle room--what would be the perception of a teacher who told his students to love nothing better than him and to give up their lives to follow him? The only legitimacy to these commands are the truth of Jesus as Lord, and the miracle of Christ's resurrection.
P.S.:
"Ouch" verse of the day:
Proverbs 15:28
The heart of the righteous ponders how to answer, but the mouth of the wicked pours out evil things.
All these speech verse could be why Proverbs is not on my top ten books of the Bible. I'm a little scattered this morning--sorry!
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