"Do you suppose that I came to grant peace on earth? I tell you, no, but rather division; for from now on five members in one household will be divided, three against two." Luke 12:51-52

Because Jesus often spoke such wonderful words people often fail to see what it means to follow Christ. Jesus was so tender, kind and merciful and He taught His disciples to act the same so it is difficult to understand how following Him could cause division in the family.

When I came to the faith and began to earnestly follow Christ it quickly caused problems with family members. Since my family were Christians I was surprised. But there is a big difference between a casual Christian and a radically born-again Christian who is determined to worship God in spirit and in truth.

I learned that Christians like that make casual Church-goers uncomfortable. All I wanted to talk about was my new faith and what I was learning from my study of the Bible. I wanted to share with others and have others share with me. I found that most Church-goers were settled into a comfort zone and had no motivation to leave it.

One of the most amazing facts in the Bible is it that Jesus’ own family, including His mother actually attempted to take custody of Him because they thought He had gone insane. Wow! Jesus even caused division in His own family when He began to preach radically, notice, -"When His own family heard of this, they went out to take custody of Him; for they were saying, ‘He has lost His senses.’" (Mark 3:21)

This is amazing because His mother knew who He was. The great Archangel Gabriel told Mary that her child would be called "Emmanuel" meaning "God with us." She knew that she was a virgin when she conceived Jesus by the Holy Spirit. She knew Jesus could do miracles, she even asked Him to turn water into wine at the wedding in Cana.  Jesus’ mother and brothers and sisters had witnessed His miraculous powers and knew the story of His birth, yet here they found themselves in divided against Him.

Jesus’ family never had the opportunity to tell Jesus that they had come to take custody of Him, but He knew. While He was preaching someone told Him that His family wanted to talk with Him but He never went out to meet them but asked, -"Who is My mother, brothers and sisters? Is it not those who do the will of God?" 

Jesus knew that what His family had in mind was not the will of God, therefore they were not acting as His true family. After saying this He entered a boat and took to sea. Jesus’ teaching was at odds with the established religious leaders and His family did not understand.

If you follow Christ faithfully some will separate from you and you will suffer persecution. In this you will simply be sharing in the sufferings of Jesus. When Jesus returns He will gather together the sheep and the goats and then will separate them. The sheep will enter into His Kingdom and the goats will be cast into hell. When the rich man in hell asked Abraham to send him a drop of water Abraham replied, -"I cannot, because there is a great divide between us." This of course is a physical manifestation of the division between those who do the will of God and those who do not - a divide that the Lord could clearly see before His judgment.