51 Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division.
Division deals with judgment. Jesus judges sin with his perfect life and innocent death. He demonstrates God’s attitude toward sin, and that divides humankind into two groups: those who accept the reality of sin and it consequences, and those that minimize or reject the concept of sin. Jesus divided people into different groups. The following verses show that division within families is a possible outcome of Jesus entering a life. When one member of a family becomes a Jesus-follower, that family is divided. It does not mean that a divorce is necessarily the outcome, but it does mean that the priorities of various members are by necessity different than they were before. There are now two chains of command within the household, the earthly and the heavenly. The goals of the family are also divided. One is seeking eternal goals, the other temporal. Division is inevitable. Even in an individual the division becomes evident. There is now a struggle where before there was no struggle. The internal tug of war has begun. And that struggle will continue as long as we are alive. In some respects the struggle gets greater with more maturity. The Lord works on finer and finer points in our character as we mature in relationship with Him. At the beginning the Lord is just getting us to not destroy the furniture of our new residence. Later He is concerned with the way we sit and enjoy silence. God works on the ‘big’ sins first, then works on the subtle ones later. All sins get targeted as some point in our walk, if we live long enough. That is because it is about relationship. When we first get married we overlook the small things, even some big things. We think love will bring change, your love. But your love can’t bring change, only their love for you will empower them to change. If love continues to grow, they will become more aware of the small things that bring you pleasure and out of love do those thing. You cannot force them to do those things. They must choose to do them out of love. That is the division inside of each of us, we must choose to do, to love, to obey. We must choose to not follow our selfish interests, but do what the other needs and wants.
The Arnold Journey 