Conflict

Division

“I have come to set the world on fire, and I wish it were already burning! I have a terrible baptism of suffering ahead of me, and I am under a heavy burden until it is accomplished. Do you think I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I have come to divide people against each other! From now on families will be split apart, three in favor of me, and two against—or two in favor and three against.

‘Father will be divided against son
    and son against father;
mother against daughter
    and daughter against mother;
and mother-in-law against daughter-in-law
    and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.’” Luke 12:49-53


Many new believers assume that once you have accepted Christ as Lord and Savior, everything will miraculously be a bed of roses.

Indeed, everything is changed. A new believer, is redeemed, is reborn -- a new man, or a woman, has a new heart, and is now a child of God. A new believer receives the gift of the Holy Spirit, along with it, peace, joy and love. But everything that has happened is all in the inside, while the outside world stays the same.

Everything is great, you'd feel great, you're ready to share your new found faith and talk to anyone. Yes, until you tell another soul about Jesus, then you see the disconnect, the confusion, the look of astonishment, the shock, the disbelief, the disapointment, the backlash, and the conflict.

Friends and Family

Your closest friends and your own family members who do not know Christ will not be able to understand you. No, not until they too come to the same place you've been and accept Christ for themselves on their own accord. So until then, three against two, or two against three. Worse, at the start and maybe for a little while it's often you and the Lord against all of them. Don't lose hope, most of us have either made it through or are also in the same situation as you. Jesus and many of your fellow believers all over the world are praying for you.

Repost from Church of the Lost Sheep