Finding Freedom
Luke 12:51-53
"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".
The 3 verses above is the wildest thing to me because as we go through this life, if you are a product of a close knit family, you spend so much of your time trying to please the ones you love the most, and most importantly trying your best to keep the peace, avoiding doing or saying anything that may cause friction. Then here goes our Lord and savior, “…a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household. Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me”.
What Lord? Come again! I’ve never known my Lord to make a mistake, so yes, He said what He said, and He meant every bit of it. Luke 12:51-53, and Mathew 10:35-38, tells us everything that’s hard to hear, yet we need to know, and that is: what the Lord says about us and expects of us means way more than that of a loved one. Yes, He (Jesus Christ) is the Prince of Peace, but all that is contrary to the will of God, gets the sword. So through Him, we experience peace within, but because of Him, we will have to fight spiritually against what the sin of this world has deemed as “the truth”, and call it for what it is: lies of the enemy.
I had so much more to say regarding this topic so I took it to pen and paper. In my latest Instagram video, I went on to speak of the bondage many experience in this day and age, to: depression, anxiety, insecurity, pride, addiction, etc. A lot of the time we find ourselves in these dark mental spaces because of our inability to live up to the expectations of loved ones, as well as the expectations of our society. This is what I consider falsely finding our identity in all the wrong things. As you dive deeper into the word of God, as well as grow in relationship with God, you will find that majority of the time what others have said about you, based on their expectations of you and the expectations of society, directly contradicts what God says about you, as well as what He expects of you.
Although we’re spiritual beings, throughout this human experience, we find ourselves more drawn to the physical because we can see, touch, hear, smell, and taste on that level, when truly, life is more spiritual than we’d like to admit. We avoid admission because we lack understanding, but the more we grow in understanding through Christ Jesus, the more we’d be willing to accept that there’s a whole other world surrounding us daily, that we physically cannot see.
Because we’re so attached to the physical, it’s hard for us to accept the truths of an unseen God over the lies of a physically experienced world. So, we find ourselves finding our identities in the lies rather than in the truth because we feel so disconnected from the things of the spirit. This is hard to overcome, but it takes faith, and communion with Christ Jesus. The closer you get to God the more you will experience the supernatural, and the possibility of there being more than what you can physically see around you becomes no longer a possibility, but that which is possible.
The closer you get to God, and the more you prioritize spending time with Him, the wider your eyes become to the things of the spirit, making finding your identity in Christ that much easier. In order to be set free from the lies influenced by a fallen world, you must accept the truth about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and in accepting that truth, you must also believe what He says about you.
I know that was a lot to take in, but I ask you to take all of this and me to the Lord in prayer, and allow Him to be your final confirmation.
Scriptures to reflect on:
Mathew 10:31-38
35) For I have come to turn, “‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—36) a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household. 37) “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38) Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me.
