PrayerBits for Sunday

PrayerBits

A bite sized devotional program
produced by the West Side Presbyterian Church

Sunday: Luke 12:49-56 Divisions

Time to Reflect: Unfortunately verse 53 has been mistranslated over the centuries and modern translations have perpetuated the error. The phrase “divided... against” translates a word that means “separate” or “select.” Only in this passage is it translated as oppositional. The true meaning of the verse, still not a happy verse, is “a father will be selected and not a son, a son and not a father,...” No Romanticism or Universal Salvation here. There is selection.

Moving through the day: Pray for the Salvation of all your family and friends.

Scripture:

Not Peace but Division

 49"I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! 50But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is completed! 51Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. 52From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three. 53They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law."

Interpreting the Times

 54He said to the crowd: "When you see a cloud rising in the west, immediately you say, 'It's going to rain,' and it does. 55And when the south wind blows, you say, 'It's going to be hot,' and it is. 56Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky. How is it that you don't know how to interpret this present time?