by David Brenneman
"Now large crowds were going along with Him; and He turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple." Luke 14:25-27.
“Therefore, salt is good; but if even salt has become tasteless, with what will it be seasoned? It is useless either for the soil or for the manure pile; it is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
Luke 14:34-35.
"The ancient Near Eastern concept of hate did not involve intense feelings of loathing or revulsion, as the modern Western concept does. To hate something meant to place it in a lower position than something else. Jesus was not exhorting His followers to loathe their families but rather to ensure that God reigns supreme in their lives. (Matthew 10:37,38)." - Dr. David Jeremiah notes on Luke 14:25-27.
"Our Lord does not use the word "hate" in our common acceptance of the term, for no man would hate his own life. He means that the love of all must be secondary to his love we bear to Him. Compared with our love to our Lord, all must be more like hate. We must be willing to give up everything--to give up even ourselves, our entire selves--to Him, for Christ will have all or nothing. He will never divide the human heart with any rival. If we profess to serve Him, we must have Him for our only Master and not attempt to serve two masters." Pastor Alistair Begg notes on Luke 14:25-27.
How divided the human heart can be in our world!
To be honest I was very confused reading this passage until the study notes came into play. Pastor John MacArthur shares a similar explanation of the differences between what we think of as hate and what Jesus meant by it.
The world is going to get people to redefine the priorities of the heart. Will get people to justify the divisions they have placed in their hearts. They will indeed fiercely defend their hearts with who or what is a priority for them.
Satan's schemes very much include divisions of the priorities we include.
Our sin nature really wants to be a higher priority in us than even Jesus.
What really have you lied to yourself about with regards to what's most important to you?
The Disciples spent over 3 years learning how to place and keep Jesus as the most important person in their hearts above all. Just as we just read, above family, friends and self and all things.
Heard someone once say that they realized the error of their own ways when something they said they loved was very quickly removed from their lives. They learned in that moment a hard lesson unto themselves as to putting the word "love" with something high in their heart.
Our society has taken to severely water down what love is and what ot truly does and means to the human condition.
People everywhere, and it's not at all just unbelieving people, really do place people and things as more important in their lives than Jesus and what it means to be a fully devoted follower of Jesus Christ.
The levels of delusional thinking is somewhat bizarre to watch. People so immersed in what they "love" that they don't see they are indeed trying to serve two masters.
“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth." Matthew 6:24.
It's not just wealth. You cannot serve God and ___________. Fill in the blank. Not God and everything in the world. Not God and anything in the world.
Many "love" sports teams. A great deal don't even recognize that they are actually worshipping these sports teams. They get far more enraged at their teams getting dissed or slandered than they at all do the Name of Jesus Christ.
Many "love" their jobs to the same extent. Many push their relationship with Jesus aside except for maybe Sunday mornings twice a year because they place their things or people in their lives higher than Jesus.
Some place their hobbies higher than Jesus in their hearts.
They lie to themselves about who or what is really most important to them. They SAY Jesus is the forgiver of their sins and the leader of their lives yet their heart shows a wholly different story.
Their attire shows that they worship someone or something else.
Their words show that they worship someone or something else.
Their possessions show that they worship something else.
No one nor anything should be more important than your relationship with Jesus.
Just like nobody or nothing should be leading your life but Jesus through His Spirit.
Our attachments to people and things need to be kept in the right priority after our relationship with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
God, then, spouse, then children, then others then possessions.
You read that opening passage...now consider it again with this one.
"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and spirit. You shall love your neighbor as yourself." - Jesus.
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:5-6.
Personally this is what caused me to reject wearing clothing or even hats with most logos on them. I don't want people to stop and think about corporations or teams of any kind. My life is supposed to be a testimony unto my personal relationship with Jesus.
Think about your life with Jesus. Is He truly the leader of your life or are you really the one who's placed people and or things above Him in your life?
When we all stand before Jesus all the self-deceptions are going to be burned away and the reality of how our lives was will be revealed.
Let there be no division in your heart. May the Lord be your all-in-all.
All NASB 1995 and NASB Scripture Excerpts used by permission. (C) Lockman Foundation.