Dear Friends,

Many new Christians (and not a few older believers) are surprised when their faith meets antagonism. If that is puzzling you, today’s devotional should help. God bless you.

Because of Calvary,

John Janney

• Matthew 10:34

  Matthew 10:34  English Standard Version (ESV)
  Not Peace, but a Sword
  34 “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.

• II Timothy 3:12

  2 Timothy 3:12  English Standard Version (ESV)
  12 Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,

Matthew 10:34;  II Timothy 3:12

“It may be for the information of some who have lately become Christians, if I tell them that, as surely as ever they are the followers of Jesus, they will find themselves the object of enmity. That same Master, who has come to make men peaceable, also says in another sense, ‘Think not I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.’ In bringing in peace, we necessarily contend with the contentious; in establishing righteousness, we inevitably wage war against injustice and oppression. Truth must always strive against error, and holiness must battle against sin. Do not expect to be wafted to heaven on the wings of fame; you may have to force your way thither in the teeth of slander. Our pilgrimage may cause us blistered feet, for it is no holiday trip, but a stern march. It is an up-hill journey to glory, and that man had need be a hardy mountaineer who resolves to ascend into the hill of the Lord, and to dwell in his holy place. You will be attacked on all sides — ay, even from within. Your own household may furnish you the most desperate of your foes; yea, your own bed may supply the cruelest adversary. From every corner an arrow may be aimed at you; in work and rest, in the world and in the church, you may be called upon to draw your sword. Strange is it that we may do the maddest actions, and awaken no opposition; but the moment we become truly wise, all men are up in arms against us. Is there nothing to ridicule in all the world save the fear of God? Many of God’s people, both in private life and in public stations, find that their piety acts upon the ungodly as a red rag upon a bull; they close their eyes, and rush fiercely to the attack.”

[Charles Haddon Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit XLIII, (London: Passmore and Alabaster, 1897), p. 483-484]