Matthew 10:34 – 39

34 “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword.

35 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’;

36 and ‘a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.’

37 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.

38 And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.

39 He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.

Jesus tells us He did not come to bring peace and tranquility between individuals, His teachings (sword) will bring division to families and friends.

There will be families which part of them accept Jesus teaching and part of them will not, this will bring division and perhaps hard feelings between family members.

The teaching of Jesus will cause hard feelings among those in the individual family members if some accept and others do not. The subject is a subject which will stir deep emotions.

If one chooses the easy way to keep harmony within the family, then the choice is to reject Jesus and His doctrine. If the reason is to please other family members then it shows the choice of family above the Savior, Jesus says this makes one unworthy of acceptance by Jesus on the judgment day.

We need to remember as dear as our family is to us, our family is only here on earth if they reject Jesus, and our lives are eternal, eternal in heaven with Christ or eternal in hell with those who reject Jesus.

The cross is used figuratively meaning the persecutions, the responsibilities a Christian has in following Jesus. Maybe it will mean being persecuted because of belief in Jesus, or it means the choices we need to make which separate ourselves from friends and family because of our belief.

To be worthy of having eternal life we must shoulder the responsibilities we have as a follower of Jesus, It is what is meant of “Confessing Jesus before men.”

A Christian has two different lives, one is a physical life which ends at the time we take our last breath on earth. The other life is eternal, it never ends.

A human who is fearful of losing the earthly life and will not accept Jesus and not carry the cross we must shoulder then if we save our earthly life by denying Jesus so we are “safe” on earth, then we lose the eternal life in heaven, we still have an eternal existence, but it is suffered in the “lake of fire” with Satan and his followers.

A human who loses his earthly life because he follows Jesus and His commands, then He is rewarded with eternal life in Heaven with Jesus, God the Father, and the other heavenly beings.