25 Now large crowds were accompanying Jesus, and turning to them he said, 26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother, and wife and children, and brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. 27 Whoever does not carry his own cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.
REFLECTIONS
Written by Ian Mu
My friend absolutely loves mangoes, and because I’m not as excited for mangoes, people sometimes think I must hate mangoes. But the truth is, I don’t hate them – I just don’t love them as much as my friend does.
In Luke 14:25-27, Jesus makes a similar point, but in a much more serious context. He tells us that if we want to follow Him, we must "hate" our father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, and even our own lives. At first glance, this seems quite strange. But Jesus isn’t really telling us to hate our families and ourselves. Instead, He’s using strong language to make a point that is so important for us to understand: our love for Him should be so strong that, by comparison, our love for anyone or anything else seems like hate. It’s not that we actually hate our families or our own lives, but that our love for Jesus should be far greater.
In fact, when we love Jesus above all else, something amazing happens – we actually learn how to love our families better. By putting Him first, we allow His love to transform us, and that love spills over into our relationships with others. We become better friends, parents, siblings, and spouses because we are filled with the love of Christ.
Is there something or someone you’ve been loving more than Jesus? For me at the moment, I am aware that I have all of a sudden prioritised my career. And I have to ask myself: How can I re-prioritize my relationship with Jesus?
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