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. And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple (Luke 14:26-27).
God’s love is demanding! Jesus Christ, God’s own Son, makes these demands on love because, like no one else, He understands love and its demands! He understands the scripture, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). He understands that love is giving before it is getting, it is sacrificing, and it is laying down one’s life so that others might live! Love is living a cross-bearing life!
When God sent His only begotten into the world to seek and save that which was lost, the Son knew what love demanded. He knew that He could not seek nor save us unless He embraced love’s demands! He came to give His life as a ransom for many, and even before experiencing physical death, He demanded of His own followers no less a sacrifice. Again, He says to them and us, “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. And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:26-27). The tension here is not that we literally hate our loved ones but that we never be conflicted as to the priority of love! What radical love! What radical sacrifice! What radical fellowship with God!
Jesus further says, “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. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me” (Matthew 10:37-38).
Therefore, I exhort us all to “…walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God (Colossians 1:10).