Read Luke 12:49-56 with your family.

One of the things we teach children is to be nice like Jesus was nice. But anyone who has been bullied or ignored can tell you sometimes being nice is not always the best answer.

The lesson today is very hard for adults to hear, so it can be even tougher for kids. God who is loving and kind is bringing fire? God is saying families will be seperated? Why is Jesus saying this will happen.

Well, Jesus did not say it WILL happen, Jesus said it WAS happening. As more and more people started to follow Jesus, their family did not always agree. The people who followed Jesus had a new vision of what the future could be like if we changed how we treated each other, and that scared a lot of their families and friends.

Jesus does bring division, but not because Jesus is mean. Jesus brings division because following God’s path turns us away from following the world’s path, and a lot of people really like the world’s path. After all, the world’s path is the one that tells them they can have all the money they want, they can live however they want, we don’t have to worry about strangers, and that people in trouble did that to themselves.

Following Jesus is going to be hard at times, but the end where everyone has enough to live and be happy, really is worth it.