Matthew Henry once said, "Peace is such a precious jewel that I would give anything for it but truth."
Truth can be very polarizing. Jesus said, “Do not
suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring
peace, but a sword” (Matthew 10:34). The sword to which Christ is referring
is a representation for the inevitable separation between those who believe in Christ
and those who do not in a family. Jesus goes on to say, “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— 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; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me”
(Matthew 10:35-37). It is not Jesus' intention to pit one family member against
another, but when one family member loves Jesus and the other doesn’t, there
will friction and division. Jesus asks for complete and total faithfulness.
Jesus demands the type of faithfulness that makes our love for him supreme to
where it takes precedent over every other relationship.
Truth indeed polarizes.
And ultimately truth is a person. Jesus also said, “I am the way and THE TRUTH and
the life. NO ONE comes to the FATHER except THROUGH ME” (John 14:6, emphasis mine).
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