Greetings everyone and welcome to today's edition of ..
Learn and Grow with Jesus EVERYDAY
Today's Topic is: Divided House
Date: Sunday, February 7th, 2021
Bible Reading: Luke 12:49 - 53 NIV
“I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! But I have a baptism to undergo, and what constraint I am under until it is completed! Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two, and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.” Luke 12:49-53 NIV
Discussion Question: What following Jesus cost you?
Imagine Jesus, the Prince of Peace asking, "do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division." How true is that statement?
I recall how this played out in my life in my early years as a new christian. I lost precious friends and associates. My dad was at odds with my new found fraternity with Jesus. My classmates avoided me. All of a sudden, I was alone and near isolation. But soon I began to make new friends of the body of Christ. My joy and happiness began to increase as I found acceptance in the midst of new strangers that I called brothers and sisters. It wasn't an easy experience for me but I never looked back.
When God met Elijah and told him to go and anoint Elisha to succeed him as prophet, the bible says "that Elijah found Elisha plowing with twelve yokes of oxen, and he himself was driving the twelfth pair. Elijah went up to him and threw his cloak around him. Elisha then left his oxen and ran after Elijah. “Let me kiss my father and mother goodbye,” he said, “and then I will come with you.” “Go back,” Elijah replied. “What have I done to you?” So Elisha left him and went back. He took his yoke of oxen and slaughtered them. He burned the plowing equipment to cook the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he set out to follow Elijah and became his servant".
1 Kings 19:19-21.
Did you notice what Elisha did? He slaughtered his farm animals and used the wooden plow to cook the meat and gave it to the people. He did this to close the door and erase any possibility of him looking back and returning to his farm work. No wonder Jesus said in Luke 9:62 “Anyone who puts a hand to the plow and then looks back is not fit for the Kingdom of God.” The kingdom of God is truly a one-way journey with no rearview mirror. You keep moving forward ever as you follow the footsteps of the Lord.
In Luke 14:26-27, Jesus said, "If you come to me but will not leave your family, you cannot be my follower. You must love me more than your father, mother, wife, children, brothers, and sisters—even more than your own life! Whoever will not carry the cross that is given to them when they follow me cannot be my follower".
And in Matthew 19:29, Jesus said, "And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife[a] or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life."
It is not uncommon to lose friends or friendships on account of following Jesus. Even Jesus Himself was rejected and deserted. If we be in Christ, we are no longer of this world. Bible says, "Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people.”Therefore “Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you.” “I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.” 2 Corinthians 6:14-18
Stay uplifted in Christ always and live Cheerfully every day.
Leader Chinedu Nicholas Obodo for EXOLOM Fellowship. Find us at Exolom.com
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