So Much

25 Now large crowds were going along with Him; and He turned and said to them, 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. 27 “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. 28 “For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? 29 “Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31 “Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and consider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one coming against him with twenty thousand? 32 “Or else, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. 33 “So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions.
34 “Therefore, salt is good; but if even salt has become tasteless, with what will it be seasoned? 35 “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 14:25-35

Jesus said some disturbing things, and perhaps these words are among the most disturbing: “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.” (Luke 14:26) Hate your mother and father? Your brothers, sisters, wife and children? To hate your father and mother goes against the fifth commandment: “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the LORD your God gives you.” (Exodus 20:12) To hate your wife goes against Paul’s teaching: “So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself” (Ephesians 5:28).

But when we look at it again, perhaps we can understand what Jesus means. His words do not speak of hate, but of love. In particular, we love Jesus so much that, by comparison, our relationship with anyone else seems like hate.

Jesus also spoke about hating one’s own life, and as the symbol of that hate, of carrying one’s own cross. In modern times, we have lost the horror that went with carrying a cross. However, the Roman politician Cicero thought that even the word “crucify” was so terrible that it should be removed from the Latin language. But when Jesus talked about carrying a cross, he meant to love so much that you are willing to sacrifice everything, including your own life.

Finally, Jesus spoke about salt. What does salt have to do with love? How does it fit with loving Jesus so much that it seems like you hate your family, or so much that you are willing to give everything? The fact about salt is that it either is or it is not. It either is salt, or it is not salt (even if it looks like salt). The same goes with being a disciple: you either are a disciple of Jesus and you are willing to pay the price that goes with being a disciple, or you are not, and it doesn’t matter how well you sing or how many Bible verses you have memorized.

You either do, or you do not, love Jesus so much that everything else seems like hate. You either are, or you are not, willing to sacrifice everything, including your life.
Which are you?

Prayer:
• Are you really a disciple?
• Pray that God will lead you to commit yourself totally to Him.