Dave's Diary

Prayer

Before you read, I invite you to pray this prayer based on Psalm 119:103

Lord, Your words are sweet to my taste,
sweeter than honey to my mouth!
Feed me the goodness of Your holy Word today. Amen.

Briefly prepare your heart in silence, and ask the Holy Spirit to awaken your awareness to the voice of God, coming to you through His Word.

Reading

Matthew 10:34-39 

In this passage I see a simple command from Jesus, given with unmistakable (one might even say ‘confrontational’) clarity. I would paraphrase it as:

“Love Me more than you love your friends, parents, children, or even your spouse. Love Me more.”

This supreme love for Jesus Christ is the only way to be His faithful disciple for life.

When Jesus says that He has come to bring a sword and not peace, this should not be taken literally, as if Jesus is a warmonger. From everything we know about Him in the Gospels, this would be patently untrue. Jesus is the Prince of Peace. Jesus simply wants us to understand that He requires such a level of allegiance from His disciples that if one member of a family loves Him and serves Him as Lord, and the other members of the family do not, this will become an inevitable dividing line in the family.

Of course, we who love Him will make every effort to bring our remaining family members with us into the Kingdom of God. But if they will not receive His Lordship, our paths will gradually diverge. When we pursue Jesus with all our hearts and grow to be like Him, while other family members continue to serve the world and its priorities, our paths will inevitably diverge. This will never turn us against them … but sadly it will sometimes turn them against us. This is what Jesus means in these verses.

If and when this “division” becomes so evident that our family members turn against us, reject us, or make us choose between them and Christ, our decision to continue following Christ despite the cost will be the fruit of our love for and allegiance to Christ.

i do believe that, when put to this choice, we will find the grace to stay faithful and to carry this Cross of rejection; but only if we have truly come to love Jesus more than anything and anyone.

We need to remind ourselves regularly that Jesus chose us over the glory of heaven (in the incarnation) and over His own physical life (in the crucifixion), out of His boundless love for us. And His love ought to move us to love Him in return and to pay whatever price is demanded of us for our allegiance to Him. After all, as Jesus said “Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for My sake will find it.“

Contemplation

Please take time to ponder what Jesus has commanded us. Turn these declarations over in your mind. Keep them in mind throughout the day and live in step with Your King, Jesus.

As a disciple of Jesus Christ: 

• I will remind myself often that Christ has loved me more than life itself.
• I will choose to love Christ more than anything and anyone.

Lord Jesus, I do love You! Help me to love You more. Amen.

P.S. As our week of prayer for our Christian Family in Iran yesterday, click here for a helpful prayer embedded in an insightful article from Desiring God, to help guide our prayers.