34 “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to turn “‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law 36 a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’ 37 “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it. (Matthew 10:34-39)
Here the Lord Jesus said: “I did not come to bring peace on earth, but a sword.” What does this mean? Later, when the Lord Jesus was arrested, Peter took out a knife and Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back in its place, for all who draw the sword will die by the sword.”(Matthew 26:52)
Here the Lord Jesus said that anyone who takes the sword will die by the sword, so He is not telling people to use the sword. The Lord Jesus is the Prince of Peace, who wants people to reconcile with God and brings peace to the people. But some people believe in the Lord, their family are very opposed to them and become their enemies. In this way, there will be no peace. The Lord Jesus continued: “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” Here the Lord Jesus said that when there is a conflict between loving the Lord and loving your family, choose loving the Lord.
“Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.” Carrying the cross means dying to the self, not living for yourself, if you live for yourself, if you find life will lose it, if you lose life for the Lord’s sake, lives for the Lord will gain life, gain eternal life, and gain the reward in the future.
I had a dream at the end of year 2000. The whole dream was about writing songs. It gave me the feeling that I would write many songs. After the dream, I immediately started writing songs, one after another. Now I have written many songs. I didn’t know how to write songs, but the Lord gave me the gift of songwriting, now I have written many songs. When you work for the Lord, the Lord will give the gifts to help you, thank the Lord!
May God bless you and your family! 🙏😊
