REAL REASON
Today's reading: Luke 11-12

"Do you think I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I have come to bring strife and division." Luke 12:51 NLT

Kind of blows the whole idea "Let There Be Peace On Earth" tries to sell us, doesn't it?

Real change. Lasting change. Life-altering change, stirs things up, turns things upside-down and leaves separation and division.

A change in healthy eating? A change in habits? A change in tradition? A change in who our master is?

God did not intend for His Son's suffering and dying on the cross to allow us an easy route into heaven--He wanted to shake us up, turn us completely around and allow us to see the changes needed to enter into a love relationship, and eventually into heaven! He does not offer several ways, but One Way.

We, as His followers, will stick out in society--or at least we ought to! We, as His children, will live differently, speak differently, act differently--and those differences will separate us from ones not in His family. We, as His marked ones, will generate a lot of controversy, discussion and yes, sometimes, strife, as we attempt to draw all others into His Kingdom.

Peace? Peace can only come after the separations and divisions have been made and we stand before Him hearing the words, Well done--come on in!