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Writer's picturePastor Hans Fiene

Matins Devotion: October 9, 2024


When Jesus tells us that He has come to set family members against each other, sons against fathers, daughters against mothers and so on, He doesn’t mean that this was the purpose of His incarnation, of course. Rather, it will be the result of His incarnation and His atonement. Man’s desire to earn the love of God is so great that men will cast away the most sacred bonds in order to keep the righteousness they imagine they’ve stockpiled. Men will hate the gift of free salvation so much that they will hate their Christian parents, their Christian children in order to get away from Christ. So when Jesus tells us this, He’s giving us a word of comfort. Don’t think you did something wrong when your children despise you for loving Jesus. Don’t think you have failed when you speak the name of Christ to your parents, your loved ones, and they get irrationally angry. That’s just how things are going to be.


But it’s also worth noting that it’s very easy for us to claim that we’re being hated for the sake of the Gospel when, in reality, we’re being hated for being hateful. Very often we’re cruel and judgmental, far more obsessed with the specs in the eyes of our parents and children than we are with the logs of iniquity blinding us. We don’t respect boundaries. We impose ourselves on others, trying to control them and pressure them into living the way we want, even when the way they’re living doesn’t have anything to do with faith or morals. We give people every indication that we cling to the name of Jesus not because we believe He’s our Savior, but because we believe He will give us the opportunity to look down on them.


So beware of that temptation. Repent when you have blasphemed the name of Jesus by pridefully using it as a weapon against others. And in all things, turn your eyes to the Son of God who has adopted you into His Father’s family. Look to the Savior who brought peace to the world by dying for your sins, by giving you and your fathers and mothers, your sons and daughters the right to live with Him in His kingdom forever. Look to the peace of Christ. Then speak of His peace. Sing it, proclaim it, confess it to those you love. If they love you for it, rejoice. And if they hate you for it, rejoice that you have been counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name of Jesus Christ, the Savior who calls you His beloved brother.

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