Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours abundantly from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. I am happy to welcome you to the second week of the month of July 2024. I pray that your heart will be daily strengthened to remain true to the Lord, even if everyone around you is failing Him. Amen.
As our Lord Jesus points out to us, one the things that will show that we are truly His disciples is our readiness to hate the people that are close to us. Look at the way Luke puts this in his gospel:
“Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters — yes, even his own life — he cannot be my disciple. And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.”” (Luke 14:25-27NIV)
Did you see that? Anyone that will be a true disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ must hate his own father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters and even his own life. But is that not contrary to the message of love that Jesus Christ is preaching? No!
See, when the Lord says these things, He does not mean that we are not to love our people at all. Remember that He Himself tells us to love and pray for our enemies. And if He wants us to love and pray for our enemies and even those who persecute us, will He not want us to love our families and friends more? He will. (Cf. Matt 5:43-48)
So, when He said that we must hate our own people in order to be His disciples, He does not mean that we are not to relate to them in love. Rather, He means that we must love and take Him more seriously than them. In other words, He must always come first in our lives. And if He comes first in our lives, then, if our family members or friends are doing something contrary to His will, we will not join them. Instead, we will take our stand against them.
For example, when Moses wanted to judge the children of Israel for making an idol of gold for themselves to worship in place of God and losing control of themselves in their crazy partying, He asked the people, “Who is on the Lord’s side?” And all the Levites came to his side. Then he gave them the Lord’s command, which was that they were to take their swords and go through the camp of Israel, killing everyone that had not become sober, even if the person was their family member, friend or neighbour. And they did. (Cf. Ex 32:25-28)
Now could it have been easy for those Levites to kill their own parents, children, brothers, sisters, friends or neighbours that day? No! That was a heavy cross for them to carry, for they would have to live with the memory of killing their own people for the rest of their earthly lives. But because they loved God more, they killed them. And because they did that, the bible goes on to say this: “Then Moses said, “You have been set apart to the LORD today, for you were against your own sons and brothers, and he has blessed you this day.”” (Ex 32:29NIV)
Can you now see why God chose the tribe of Levi out of all the tribes of Israel to reveal Himself to them so that they may serve Him in His temple? It was all because they hated their own family members, friends and neighbours in order to honour God. And the Lord Jesus is telling us that we too must be prepared to function in the same spirit, if we want to be His disciples indeed.
This, of course, does not mean that we too have be willing to kill our own family members or friends, just because we want to show our love for God or our Lord Jesus. Unfortunately, there are still religions in the world today who think killing others for God is a great way to show their love for Him. But God is not asking anyone to kill anybody for Him today. That is because He has already offered Jesus as a sacrifice for us all.
However, what He is asking us is to be willing to stand against anything that He is against, even if it is our own flesh and blood that is involved. And are we willing to do that? Are we willing to go against our parents, brothers, sisters, friends, wives, husbands and children, if they are walking contrary to the will of God? It is only those who are ever ready to do this that are true disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, not those who are saying they are His disciples with words of mouth only. And I pray that we all will be strengthened by the Spirit of God to be ready every day to bear whatever cross we have to carry to be true disciples of the Lord Jesus. Amen.
Have a great week.
Copyright © 2024, Reality Desk, a ministry of Alaythia Bible Church –This material is the sole property of Reality Desk. It may be copied for personal non-commercial use only in its entirety free of charge. All copies must contain this copyright notice. Please direct any questions you may have to pastor@abcministry.com or call: 08037592851 (WhatsApp Number: 07085711280)