STRIFE Because of God's TRUTH!
As shocking as it sounds, Jesus said, "Think NOT I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword!"
Jesus meant personal strife — and as a direct result of RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION even among the closest of families! But can you imagine what would occur if a sociologist, or a "liberal" minded and quite "modern" minister would hear of a Church which actually believed severe PERSECUTION, yes, even between husband and wife, would come as a direct result of OBEYING JESUS CHRIST?
What if an enraged, bigoted, narrow-minded and PREJUDICED mate decided to try to FORCE the other to GIVE UP the very precious truth of God's Word?
What if he or she threatened DIVORCE unless Christ's true practices — His true example — were forsaken? What if a mate said, "Choose! It's either ME, Or YOUR RELIGION"?
Why, most people would try to "save the home," instead of continuing to OBEY GOD!
But what did JESUS say? "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. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household!" (Matt. 10:34-37)
Does this mean Jesus WANTS homes broken up by strife and religious persecution?
OF COURSE NOT!
Christ doesn't WANT ANY religious bigotry — He doesn't want to see ANY intolerance, bias, prejudice, rancor, HATRED in human hearts! BUT HE WILL NEVER COMPROMISE ONE IOTA WITH HIS PRECIOUS TRUTH! And neither will any person who is TRULY converted, and is truly being LED by the very SPIRIT of God — regardless of the trials and pressures that may come to bear.
Christ said, through Paul, "If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men" (Rom. 12:18). "Blessed are the PEACEMAKERS," said Jesus (Matt. 5:9).
Paul, inspired of God's Holy Spirit, said, "If any brother hath a wife that believeth not, and she be pleased to dwell with him, let him not put her away!" (I Cor. 7:12)
Paul urged NON-believing persons NOT to leave someone who was earnestly trying to overcome his carnal nature, and to be more like Christ!
He went on to say, "And the woman which hath an husband that believeth not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave him. For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: else were your children unclean; but now they are holy" (I Cor. 7:13-14).
Paul was striving to KEEP HOMES INTACT! He was pleading with the Corinthians, even as we plead with people today, NOT to harbor religious intolerance and BIGOTRY in their hearts — TO PROTECT the home, to keep homes, families, brothers and sisters TOGETHER in tolerance, patience and love!
But, as Christ revealed, the carnal mind just CAN'T SEE IT GOD'S WAY! And, as PITIFUL as it may seem, there are cases when NOTHING the converted mate can do seems to make any impression on someone whose mind is CLOSED to God's truth!
Thank God, we have known of only a very few instances where a BELLIGERENT mate has deliberately BROKEN UP A PRECIOUS HOME because of HATING God's way. And, we are convinced, even in these FEW cases, religion was probably just an excuse to conceal deeper reasons — and not the REAL cause of the trouble!
Just as Jesus did, and just as did Paul, we preach the Gospel of PEACE to the world. The Gospel of HARMONY, of HAPPINESS, of the way to ABUNDANT living!
But, because human nature is NO DIFFERENT today than it was in Jesus' time, and because the natural human heart is JUST as antagonistic against God's precious TRUTH today as ever — some few DO begin to PERSECUTE! But remember — the Christian never does the persecuting. He only patiently receives it!
IF YOU ARE A CHRISTIAN — Jesus said you SHALL suffer persecution! (John 16:33)
What About YOUR Private Life?
What about YOUR heart and mind? Do you "fly off the handle" easily? Do YOU become ENRAGED at someone over racial, religious, political issues? DO YOU become SO ANGRY, SO MAD, SO CONSUMED with inflamed passion that you would literally resort to VIOLENCE?
Millions do!
And why? The answer is simple. It's like a recipe for an evil concoction. Just take human nature. Sprinkle in a few situations, add a lot of entertainment pressures; such as TV violence, radio jazz and noise; movie-land make-believe; newspaper sensationalism; paper-backed perversity and sex: stir well — and VIOLENCE will erupt!
Solomon wrote, "Surely the churning of milk bringeth forth butter, and the wringing of the nose bringeth forth blood: so the forcing of WRATH bringeth forth strife!" (Prov. 30:33)
Do you SNAP at your children, argue with your employer, yell at your spouse? Are you irritated much of the time — impatient in stress and trial — ANGRY at situations that frustrate you? If you're HUMAN, and if you lack the SPIRIT OF GOD — you ARE!
It's been said, "You are what you eat." And your MIND is what you THINK! And if YOUR STEADY DIET IS ONE OF VIOLENCE — then you could become a VIOLENT person very easily!
Will you be one who will be filled with RAGE because of your spouse's religious beliefs? Will YOU become brutally VIOLENT because of RACIAL prejudices and hatreds? Will YOU ever be one who will PERSECUTE someone else for their religious, racial, political or personal beliefs?
Probably not, you may think — but, THINK AGAIN! Unless you're CHANGED, unless your very NATURE has been altered from a violent nature to a peaceful one — you may!
Here's What You Need to Do!
First of all, you need to have more of the attitude of God's righteous servants of old, who "sighed and cried" because of the horrible atrocities, the terrible ABOMINATIONS that occurred around them, daily! Read in Ezekiel 9, of those who, because of their attitude of abhorrence of the evils of this modern era are to be spared from the apocalyptic destruction soon to befall this world!
Read about righteous Lot who was vexed every single day because of the "filthy conduct of the wicked" and the "unlawful deeds" of the average citizen around him (II Pet. 2:7-8).
You need to develop more of the attitude Jesus illustrated when He said His true servants would be praying, "Thy Kingdom COME!" (Matt. 6:10)
In other words, you need to begin to view this world as GOD views it, and not as you have always carelessly taken it for granted.
God warns, "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passes away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abides for ever" (I John 2:15-17).
Next, you need to become very personally critical about the way you spend your leisure moments!
You need to become highly selective about the motion pictures you view! Let's face it, you KNOW, and you KNOW THAT YOU KNOW, that MOST motion pictures today are filled with pure slop, swill, violence, ghoulish insanity, murder, robbery, triangles, licentiousness, perversion, and every form of vile evil!
It is exceedingly difficult to find ANY motion picture that is really suitable for any person who is sincerely trying to live according to God's laws!
Always ask yourself, "Would Christ watch this?" And then, if you really KNOW the Christ of the Bible, you will be able to find the answer. If you feel Christ would not watch it — then remember YOU shouldn't watch it!
How about television?
The same holds true! Television is MOSTLY filled with the same kind of violence, and even in more horrible forms, than the motion pictures. However, it is true that television offers a far greater variety of programs through the day — and that there are certain educational and instructive programs that are available.
For example, news broadcasts (even though much of the news today is literally VIOLENCE!); and interview-type programs; weather reports; educational and instructive programs; travelogs; certain light comedy or perhaps musical programs or variety shows are not necessarily wrong to watch.
But don't become a SLAVE to your television set! Use it wisely, use it carefully, use it with discretion!
And literature? Take a look at ANY bookstand. And about all you'll see is pure TRASH of all types, sizes, colors and descriptions. Most magazine stands would have been labeled PURE PORNOGRAPHY only a FEW DECADES AGO! And don't kid yourself it would have been "prudery" that would have labeled it so. You KNOW the weird books and magazines, the sex stories, the murder mysteries, the horoscopes and demoniacal "comic" books (and what is really "comic" about any of them?) are NOT fit to stuff into any human mind!
What about your hobbies? Your pastimes? Your moments of relaxation? Are you living WHOLESOMELY — in a refreshing, balanced way that gives you a true change of pace — that really is "recreation"? Or are many of your leisure moments spent in literally tearing down your body, and polluting your mind with the violence of this violent age?
Forming HABITS of Violence
Probably, you feel depraved acts of wanton destruction and violence are committed by a certain type of person. But you're wrong.
It is this very enigmatic problem that worries modern-day law enforcement officers. They see horrible acts of murderous violence being committed more and more by the "average" type person. They prove conclusively that crime is not limited to those who have grown up in slum or underprivileged areas; that criminals are not demented, or retarded. They shake their heads in disbelief at bestial atrocities committed by the "good" people in society!
Last Thanksgiving Day, in Los Angeles, there were three separate instances of MURDER over the Thanksgiving turkey! Can you imagine it? After asking God's BLESSING on the meal, in all probability, and after gathering about the table as a family, to rejoice in the wonderful freedoms of a free land — brothers-in-law, father and son, leapt up, snatched up a gun, and blasted the life out of each other after a heated, screaming, violent argument!
Of course!
They had probably witnessed at least a dozen murders within the last few days on television, and in the movies!
They were probably about halfway through their latest murder mystery. They had been feeding their minds on violence in almost every leisure moment!
Is it any wonder, when tempers flare, that a person reacts almost AUTOMATICALLY according to HABIT?
If you're not extremely careful what you SEE, how you THINK, what you HEAR, what you READ — YOU MAY BY ESTABLISHING THE SAME PATTERN OF VIOLENCE in your own life!
So THINK about it. INVESTIGATE your life. Be willing to be honest with yourself about yourself! God says, "Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope . . . WOE unto them that call evil good, (that was sure a "good" movie, you might have said!) and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!" (Isa. 5:18-20)
Be willing to call a spade a spade! Label things what they are! And then, with the help of Almighty God, ROOT OUT of your life the hatred, prejudice, bigotry, and murderous violence of this violent world!