Now great multitudes went with Him. And He turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. (Luke 14:25-26)
The original Greek word translated hate means to love less than. Jesus does not want us to "hate" anyone. But we are supposed to love Him more than we love anyone or anything else, even ourselves. Jesus made a similar statement before when preparing His disciples to go out and witness, saying He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. (Matthew 10:37) Too many of us put too much value in the things and people of this world, but ALL of this is temporary compared to eternity. Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart fail; But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. (Psalm 73:25-26)
Jesus continued by saying, And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. (Luke 14:25-27) Again, He had told His disciples the same thing before, And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. (Matthew 10:38) We can enjoy the things of this world, but they should never take the place of Christ in our lives. But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. (Philippians 3:7-11)
To the world it may seem crazy to choose suffering for and following Christ, over doing things the world's way of trying to get along with the majority. But the reward for obeying God is so much greater than the temporary satisfaction of going along with the ways of the world. For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it— lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish’? [Genesis 11:1-9] Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace. [II Kings 16] So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple. (Luke 14:28-33)
In other words, no matter what we have, it will not last; and there is always someone else who has more. We can never have complete satisfaction and contentment in this world, unless we have a secure and eternal relationship with God, through faith in Christ Jesus. For many walk, ..., that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame—who set their mind on earthly things. For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself. (Philippians 3:18-21) He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it. (Matthew 10:39)
No comments:
Post a Comment