First Loyalty – The Presidential Prayer Team

Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. – Matthew 10:34

Sometimes the truth hurts, but it needs to be spoken. If someone has been ill for a long time because of unknown causes, they will not like receiving a diagnosis of some serious disease. But once the cause is known, treatments can begin.

In the passage today and the ones that follow, Jesus tells the people what to expect when they follow Him. His honesty cuts to the heart. Where you wanted only love and peace, you may have hatred and warfare. The Rabbinical Jews firmly believed that, when the day came that God would break into history and the Son of David would appear, families would be torn apart, daughter against mother, son against father, because some would believe and some would not (Matthew 10:35). The time they had been waiting for had come, but they refused to believe it.

Trials within the family would not be the only problems faced by followers of Christ. John Bunyan, born in 1628 and led to the Lord by his wife, became a preacher of the Word and was arrested and thrown into prison for preaching without having received permission from the established church. Although he could have bowed to authorities, he stood firm and retained his first loyalty to God and His truth. Though he and his family suffered when he was in prison, he blessed the world for centuries to come with his writing of The Pilgrim’s Progress.

You may be called to make a difficult choice. Make your loyalty to God your first priority, and the Lord will sustain you. Pray that those in positions of authority in this nation continue to stand strong in their loyalty to God.

Today’s Verse: Matthew 10:34

Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.

All Scripture quotations and audio are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Recommended for further reading: Matthew 10:28-39

²⁸And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. ²⁹Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. ³⁰But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. ³¹Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. ³²So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, ³³but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.

³⁴“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. ³⁵For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. ³⁶And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household. ³⁷Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. ³⁸And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. ³⁹Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.