Divided or one

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

DIVIDED OR ONE

Matt 12:22-29

22 Then they brought him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and see. 23 All the people were astonished and said, "Could this be the Son of David?" 24 But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, "It is only by Beelzebub, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons." 25 Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, "Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. 26 If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand? 27 And if I drive out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your people drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. 28 But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. 29 "Or again, how can anyone enter a strong man's house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can rob his house.

NIV

The fact that Jesus healed a man who was possessed by a demon or demons is just the norm as far as in the life of Jesus. It is his nature to heal those in need. However, there certainly is a two-fold reason for the healing Jesus does. Although in all reality it is only one reason. Jesus certainly has compassion on people who are in need. We know that he heals, he heals us as well. He told us that if we ask anything in his name, he will do it, of course it needs to be in accordance with the will of the Father. It is not that we can ask him to give us the winning numbers for the lottery, unless that is his will, of course. But we can be pretty certain it would not, as he has warned us to be aware of get rich quick schemes.

Prov 13:11

11 Wealth from get-rich-quick schemes quickly disappears; wealth from hard work grows.

NLT

Nevertheless, we also know it is Gods will we are healed,

Ex 15:26

26 He said, "If you listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, who heals you."

NIV

Yet Jesus heals mainly to bring glory to the Father. Here he has done just that, both giving this man relief from the demons who possessed him, giving back his earing and his speech, plus bringing glory and honor to the Father. But the Pharisees were not about to allow Jesus to heal without opposition, as he was upsetting their position of leadership of the people. So here they accuse him of driving out demons by the power of Satan. Jesus refutes this with the truth regarding a divided house cannot stand. But to really put the truth in their face, he asks them by who do their disciples drive out demons. What they are accusing of him, he says they are doing. But the point of this whole teaching is about a house divided cannot stand. This serves well to give us insight into our lives. If we live with a divided heart, a divided mind we will not be able to stand. God has given us his armor to protect both our heart and mind, to keep them from becoming divided. Yet if we do not take his armor upon us, we are subject to living with this divide within us. We know a war wages within the spirit realm over our lives. We are told we do not battle against flesh and blood, but against the spiritual realm.

Eph 6:10-13

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

NIV

If we have a divided heart and mind, if we say we love the Lord, but love this world, we are divided. This is really summed up in the idea that we cannot serve both God and money.

Luke 16:13

13 "No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money." 

NIV

The money serves to include all the world has to offer as regard to material things. That is to put our trust in the material substances of this world, money, wealth for our security and future. Jesus teaches this principle over and over again. We simply cannot trust Jesus for our salvation and then trust our money, or the world for our security. We are then divided and we will not be able to stand, we will fall. We will fall prey to the schemes of the devil and lean upon the world for our material security rather than on God. We cannot live divided and be complete. Our trust in Jesus has to be all or nothing. We have to choose one or the other. It is either one hundred percent or it is but a fraction, halfhearted faith, trust and belief. Let us not allow ourselves to get divided in two, let us be completely sold out for Jesus. We will be either divided or one.