Day 7: Genesis 32-36 and Matthew 10

Genesis 32:20
Jacob was sending all of the flocks and gifts to Esau because he was afraid of Esau. He wasn't doing it to honor his brother or make him happy. Jacob was terrified and was trying to bribe good favor from Esau. Jacob wasn't trusting in God who said "I will surely do good for you." he was trying to take matters into his own hands, which has become somewhat of a theme in Genesis.

Matthew 10:12-15
A lot of times that I've read this passage, it seems harsh to have people reject and turn away from the houses that didn't welcome them, but if you have tried to give the message of Christ to people and they reject it and you, why would you stay and keep beating your head against a wall?

Today's ponderings:
The entire chapter of Matthew 10 seems harsh, even downright mean. Jesus is saying that he has come not with peace, but with a sword; not to unite but to separate. It's seems the opposite of what many people understand to be the message of Christ, the message of love and unity.
But we have to remember that Christ don't come to divide. He came to give us all the message of salvation. It isn't the message itself that divides families, or even Jesus Christ himself that divides us. What divides us and separates us is our own choices, our own reactions and responses to the message of salvation.
We become divided because some people will choose to follow Christ, to accept the gift of grace and salvation, and others will not. We are told to give the message that we have heard to everyone that we encounter, to live it out in every aspect of our lives, but if we share that message and people reject it and do not welcome us, we are to turn away.
And I don't believe that we are called to give up on people, or to count them as lost causes, but trying to tell someone a message that is everything to you and nothing to them is not going to benefit anyone. They have heard the word. Continue to pray for them. Always be available if they have a change of heart. But we are not called to be stubbornly annoying to people who have turned their backs on the word of God.