URC Daily Devotion Monday 15 December 2025
St Matthew 10: 32 – 39
Jesus said: “Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven. “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 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. Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.”
Reflection
These words sound harsh to our ears, because we don’t imagine Jesus being someone who turns “man against his father….” yet Tim Keller once put it this way: “To stay away from Christianity because part of the Bible is offensive assumes if there is a God he wouldn’t have any views that upset you.”
Throughout history we have seen this very thing – people have turned against each other because of their belief in Jesus – becoming a Christian doesn’t always bring peace and harmony, it brings conflict. I come from a family that is not only un-churched but my father is very antagonistic towards people of faith and my sister thinks “it is all nonsense”. I frequently sit through endless conversations where they verbally persecute the very faith that I hold as the core of my being and it hurts. It also makes me confrontational and they then feel very vindicated in saying that my anger and hurt prove that Christians are no better than anyone else and how we are lying, cheating hypocrites. Then I feel like I have failed Jesus and feel ashamed. I have plenty of friends, however, who I can share this with and none of them sit in judgement of me. When I describe the latest encounter, they empathise, pray for me, and remind me that I stood up for Jesus. My allegiance was, and is always, to Jesus first and foremost; I learnt a very long time ago, when I was still a little girl, that if you idolise your parents, they can leave a gaping hole of a wound where your heart should be. The only one who was able to heal that pain is Jesus; I realised that God was my true and perfect parent who created, loved and called me. God calls you too – but we are each responsible for responding to that call for ourselves.
Prayer
Calling God
You didn’t promise us peace, an easy road
or a life without conflict.
Help us when that conflict arises
between ourselves and our families and friends,
so that we remember to always place you
at the centre and first in our lives,
recognising that our spiritual home
and Heavenly Parent God are eternal not temporal.
Remind us of the call that we have chosen to respond to.
Amen.