Luke 14:26 “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.”
We could misunderstand this passage easily, if we do not acknowledge that this “hate” is by comparison.
Other scriptures command us to honor and love family members, so we know there is another application at work.
Perhaps we could say it this way: our love for and commitment to Jesus should be so great that our love for family and for ourselves seems like hate by comparison.
This is a high bar, no doubt. The demands of discipleship will always be extreme. We are to commit, without reservation, our entire lives to Him.
Those who are unwilling to make this type of commitment, Jesus says here, cannot be His disciples.
Commitments of this type must be reaffirmed almost daily, for the road will be difficult. We will be tempted to put many priorities above Jesus and His work. But we must not.
Nothing less that full surrender of the whole of ourselves will do.
Luke 14:26 “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.”