Hating Those We Love Most . . . Because Jesus Is Better!

Jesus gives us one of His most shockingly hard commands in Luke 14:26:

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 bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. Luke 14:26-27

In this passage, Jesus demands absolute, undivided love, commitment, and devotion to Himself above everything else and without any rival that is even close. The love we are to have for Jesus should make all other loves in our lives (even that strongest kind of love found between family members) seem like hatred in comparison. Only if we have this kind of love for Christ will we be able to love the lesser goods in our lives (like our families) as they should be loved. Only by trusting, loving, and adoring Jesus Christ far and away above all can we even begin to love our neighbors as ourselves or love our wives as Christ loves the church.

Beware of idolizing the good gifts from God in your life.

Timothy Keller wrote:

We think that idols are bad things, but that is almost never the case. The greater the good, the more likely we are to expect that it can satisfy our deepest needs and hopes. Anything can serve as a counterfeit god, especially the very best things in life . . . What is an idol? It is anything more important to you than God, anything that absorbs your heart and imagination more than God, anything you seek to give you what only God can give.

A counterfeit god is anything so central and essential to your life that, should you lose it, your life would feel hardly worth living . . . It can be family and children, or career and making money, or achievement and critical acclaim, or saving "face" and social standing. It can be a romantic relationship, peer approval, competence and skill, secure and comfortable circumstances, your beauty or your brains, a great political or social cause, your morality and virtue, or even success in the Christian ministry. (Pages xvii-xviii)

What in your life do you need to look straight in the eyes and say:

I hate you . . . compared to Jesus?

It could be your family, your blog, or even your Christian ministry. Pray that Christ would be precious to you far above everything else!

May Christ be your all in all!

Helpful Resources On This Teaching Of Jesus

1. If You Don’t Hate Your Father, You Cannot Be My Disciple: THE DISCOMFORTING SAYINGS OF CHRIST by John Piper

2. The Cost of Discipleship by R. C. Sproul

3. What Will Jesus Cost You? by Ligon Duncan

To learn more about the great Triune God, the God-Man, Jesus Christ, and His glorious Gospel message and everlasting Kingship, please watch American Gospel: Christ Alone. You can watch the full documentary here with a free, 3 day trial.