ELOGOS for Monday

Luke 12:49-52
I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed! Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! From now on five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three
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There is nothing easy about the way of Christ.  There is NOTHING easy about it. The deeper I get, the more conflicted I become. The more conflicted I become, the more likely I am to choose the easy way. The more I choose the easy way, the more I need Christ's grace and forgiveness.  The more I need Christ, the closer I choose the way of Christ.  There is nothing easy about the way of Christ. The only way to try to make it easier is to hang back at a distance holding open our options to cut and run.  To hang back is to lose sight of the one in whose way we are walking.  I am perpetually at odds with myself and that feels strangely true. 
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Until your kingdom completely comes, Lord, we feel the wake of your stressful way. Amen.