“If any man come to me and hate not his father and mother and wife and children and brethren and sisters yea and his own life also he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.” {Luke 14:26-27}
“He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” {Matthew 10:37}
So, it is not enough to just mouth off an acceptance prayer of Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior to be His disciple, but we must also come to hate our father and mother, our brothers and sisters, our wife and children, and yes, even our own life!
Hate is such a powerful word to use and yet the Lord used it. I’m sure this is one of those scriptures we Christians wish we didn’t see written in the Bible. It’s like when the Lord commanded us to love our enemies and pray for those that despitefully use us. {Luke 6:28} Yet, here He is commanding us to hate our parents, our brothers and sisters, our spouses and even our children. It seems like such a contradiction of His word! What does He mean by this? This seems to be so out of His character to command us to hate people that we should be loving, especially ourselves!
This is what makes God so different and so unique from who we are. When it comes to following Jesus Christ it’s really all or nothing with Him. We have to hate our life! We don’t treasure it. It is not our own. It’s His and we gladly give it to Him. As He gave up His life for us, one hundred percent, He also wants us to give up our lives to Him one hundred percent. It means we do not allow anyone or anything to get in the way of us following Jesus Christ. It means even if it comes to having no life at all in the eyes of the world, or that we lose everything, even the approval of our loved ones, we will still follow the Lord. To be truly His disciple we need to learn to love God first and utmost – with all of our hearts, soul, mind and strength. Everyone of our acquaintance will have to align with that rule and if we’re left alone and rejected, so be it.
You know when you fall in love with someone, like with your spouse, you somehow find a way to love him or her more than your family. Not that you stop loving your family but it seems to happen that way. You are able to leave them behind and marry this person you know less than your family. It is an enigma. You live with that person, have kids with them, and forget your family altogether. What’s more, it feels natural. It feels normal. It doesn’t matter who we offend in the process, does it? I’ve witnessed people get married to whom they believed at the time meant the whole world to them, even if it displeased the people they care about. They’re so in love with this person that no one else is going to stop them from marrying.
So it is with our relationship with Jesus Christ. It is possible to fall in love with God and feel natural about leaving everyone and everything we know behind. When our heart is turned towards God and the Holy Spirit comes to work in us, stuff we used to love and think great in the past can now become a sorrow, an albatross, even something we learn to scorn. It feels natural. We don’t see anything wrong with it at all. This is now what makes us happy, following the voice of Jesus. What He says goes. What He tells us to do we do, because it gives us life and so much peace. It’s not something we make an effort over. Of course naturally it doesn’t happen overnight, this falling in love with Christ, though sometimes it does seem like it’s overnight. One day we’re following the world and doing what everyone else is doing, the next turn we hate everything they’re doing and wonder why they’re doing it. It’s a beautiful process though because we receive God and see Him more. Nothing in the world can compare to that joy.
So then you find yourself hating yourself – your life, stuff you used to love, things you used to do with people. You care less and less about what others define as joy and fun. You lose interest in so many things you once loved. You find yourself naturally not wanting to hang out with people you used to love, because now they’re in the way of your true love.
Yet, hating our life and everything and everyone we used to love is not even enough. Jesus Christ said we must even go further than this. We must also bear our cross on top of this. Bear our cross? What does this mean? I believe it’s the denying of myself in doing so many other things my mind can come up with, and obeying the call of the Holy Ghost to pray and to commune with Him every single day. It’s living a holy life, setting myself apart for His purpose; not doing the things I know will displease Him. Thinking of God all day long and denying my thoughts from the pleasure of sin – anything that might separate me from Christ: hateful thoughts, unclean thoughts, negative thoughts, lustful thoughts and covetousness and many other such things. Also learning to confess everything to the Lord and not hide anything from Him. But the beautiful part about this is, we’re not making too much of an effort on this, it’s all the work of the Holy Spirit in our life. It’s not like we hate this process otherwise we wouldn’t respond to it. We want the process because we change from glory to glory.{2 Corinthians 3:18} We see God’s face and we are being changed from mortality to immortality moment by moment. We see an eternal life that we are being ushered into, a glorious end to this life, where we see Jesus and His glory waiting for us and we want Him more than anything in this life. I see it as the Tree of Life: in order for me to be happy I must follow Him. It is life to me.
Following Jesus Christ then is all about falling in love with Him and leaving everything behind. Unless we fall in love with Him and we want Him more than anything else in this life, we cannot be His disciple. It will not be easy. It will continue to be a battle. The only way to take up our cross and follow Him is to fall in love with Him.
For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? {Matthew 16:26}
For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. {Matthew 16:25}
Prayer
Thank You, Jesus because You are true and faithful. You know those who desire You and love You. You know those who wait on You and look to You.
Lord, please help us today to commit ourselves more to You in our love for You. Help us to know Your voice and follow it. Help us to fall in love with You more by denying ourselves and picking up our cross and following You. It might not be easy at first Lord, but if our hearts are true to You, and we truly want You in our lives, we will do our best and our part to follow You everyday. Help us Father today I pray to follow You, in Your sweet and wonderful name, Jesus. Thank You, Father. Amen.
