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.
Luke 14:33 So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.
Yesterday I wrote about the difference between being saved by the grace of God and being a disciple of Christ. You cannot be saved by trying to follow Christ’s teachings. You must first be Born again, then you can begin a life as a disciple. Discipleship has a price to us…Self denial, Bearing our cross daily, then Following Christ.
Today’s passage of Scripture gives us some of the qualifications of discipleship. Jesus sets the bar very high! He speaks of hating family and our own selves, he tells us to forsake all that we have in order to be a disciple of His! The Lord is not telling us that we need to develop an emotional hatred to those that we are instructed to love in other portions of Scripture, He is teaching us to place a higher value on following Him than to allow earthly relationships to establish our level of commitment to Him.
Earthly relationships are important to us all. God created us as social beings. Family and friends have a high priority in most of our lives. However, family and friends can have an effect upon how committed we are in our being a disciple of Christ.
The things that we possess are not to possess us. Jesus tells those that will be His disciples, they must be willing to forsake all to follow Him. Truth is we are only stewards of the “Things” that we have. We will not be taking them to heaven with us. We are not to hold on to them too tightly, they also can hinder us from being all the Lord has for us.
Following Christ is not an easy life. But, the things that are the best for us are most times not easily attained. Keeping Christ first in our life helps us keep our relationships and our possessions in their proper place. The qualifications for discipleship are a surrendered life and a loose grip.
Choose to follow Christ today!