Fast 40: Practicing the Ancient Spiritual Discipline of LentSample

From the beginning of time, the Word of God has divided the light from the dark and the day from the night, and it still continues to divide the saved from the perishing and heaven from hell. The Word of God does not only bring unity but also division. Jesus said, “I have not come to bring peace but a sword” (Matthew 10:34). The book of Hebrews says that the Word of God is a “double-edged sword” that is “able to judge the desires and thoughts of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).

God’s Word is double-edged because it not only exposes error but also points to the truth. It not only denounces immorality but also reveals righteousness. And it even judges the hidden desires of our hearts.

The sword of God’s Word is spiritually violent, which is why Christianity is always socially controversial. And I find that those churches that rarely use the sword of God—that rarely teach their people how to handle the sword—are also the least able to resist the world, the flesh, and the devil. They are churches where there is always peace and never war—a condition that is the very definition of spiritual slavery.