“This Is A Test” - Matthew 10:34-37

  “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to ‘set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’; and ‘a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.’ He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.” - Matthew 10:34-37

     “This is a test.” I remember hearing these words when I was a child. It was the TV network’s way of testing the EBS, or Emergency Broadcast System. It was a system designed and used during the Cold War (I’m sure some of you remember . . .) to alert us to an impending nuclear attack. I’m not even sure it’s used anymore. Nevertheless, the system was tested daily to insure that it worked. It was tested daily because an attack could come any day, unannounced, and unprovoked, not necessarily when we were “on guard”, but at anytime. We had to be prepared for what could possibly come.
    God still employs the EBS. Of course it’s not the kind that we hear over a TV or radio but a spiritual variety and it’s not the kind that warns of an impending nuclear attack, but of the satanic variety.
    When Christ told His disciples that He came to bring the sword and set a man’s household against him, He meant it in a figurative sense. Luke’s gospel is even more perilous -  “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.” - Luke 14:26. Obviously we aren’t being called to hate our family members or anyone for that matter but we must be prepared to make a stand in case division arises within our homes over the gospel of Jesus Christ! We must be ready to defend the faith even to our own mothers, fathers, children, and spouses. Matthew 10:34-37 is our spiritual EBS. Be prepared. For if we fail to defend the gospel in our own homes how can we ever hope to defend it anywhere? And if we fail to defend it, we fail ultimately. Let us not forget the warning of Jesus Christ in the previous verse - “But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.” - Matthew 10:33.
    As I said, we are not being literally called to hate our mothers and fathers, etc. but we must always be ready to defend the gospel . . . even to our families!  “Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.” - 2 Timothy 4:2.   
    May we be granted peace within our homes and families at all times but especially when we share the word of God.