It hurts to be an outcast. What if someone who was supposed to be in your corner suddenly turns on you? Ouch!
As Jesus traveled around teaching people, the religious experts followed and tried to mess him up. They were supposedly waiting for a Savior, but they hoped for a rich king who would free Israel from the Romans, not a poor man who hung around fishermen and had no military experience. Jesus wasn’t what they expected, and they were ready to spread the disappointment.
In Matthew 12:22, Jesus cast a demon out of a blind, mute man. The Pharisees hated that. They told the crowd that Jesus cast out the demon by Satan’s power, not God’s. Jesus answered that no smart battle strategy includes working against yourself and taking out your own army! He said “any city or family that is divided against itself will not continue” (v. 25).
Sound familiar? Half of all U.S. marriages end in divorce. That’s a lot of divided families! If your parents are divorced, you may not have the power to fix their relationship with each other, but you have power over your own behavior. Use that to keep the peace (Matthew 5:9). Don’t play them against each other, and pray for your mom, dad, siblings, and stepparents. Don’t take responsibility for their actions, but try not to deliberately aggravate the situations (Romans 12:18). If your family is intact, thank God for your parents’ marriage and ask him to protect and strengthen it.
Excerpted from Revolve™ 2009: The Complete New Testament. © 2008 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Holy Bible, New Century Version. © 2005 Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
