A large crowd was following Jesus. He turned around and said to them, “If you want to be my disciple, you must, by comparison, hate everyone else—your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple. And if you do not carry your own cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple. [Luke 14.25-27]
If Jesus ever made it easy on people, the event above was not it! But, if you think about it in light of what was discussed here yesterday about Jesus' yoke being easy and His burden light, it starts to make better sense.
Loving people is perhaps one of life's greatest challenges. Some would say it is a great burden, and, by God's command to love others, a laborious yoke. As much as acquaintances can hurt us, the wounds inflicted by family far exceed that pain.
I want to be very careful here, but still explore the potential that our mission on earth is NOT to love our family as much as it is to love God. This is, in fact, exactly what Jesus advocated in Luke 14.25-27 above. Our number one priority is to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. Doing so effectively, will make our love for all others pale in comparison (Jesus' words, not mine!).
And here is where Jesus' easy yoke and light burden come in. While most will agree that family can be the most challenging people to love - certainly a hard yoke and a heavy burden, following Jesus - loving God above all else, is an easy yoke and light burden.
Loving and serving God is easier than loving and serving people. But loving and serving God wholeheartedly makes loving and serving people come more naturally, and therefore, easier.
Jesus was clear however that to love and serve God in sincerity will make our love and service to anyone else seem like hate.
Again, these are not my words, but the words of Jesus. They will ring true to very few today in our self-centered society, but that makes them no less meaningful. Our complete resignation to God and His service should be unmistakable contrasted to our commitment to any other. And yet, the weightiness of this task executed will prove an easy yoke and light burden when compared to life without that commitment.
And then there is the reference to "carrying our own cross" in following Jesus. The cross represents God's love for the world as opposed to His self-preservation. So, following this through, we don't effectively love and serve God until we put the needs of others above our own - until we take up our own cross laying down our lives for all others as did our Lord Jesus.
The interrelationship of our love and service to God and man is a topic I am sure we will never understand fully. One thing I think we should all focus on however is that we will never effectively love man until we have first utterly given ourselves to the love and service of God. Our abandonment of love for man so that we might genuinely love God is the very enabling factor for us to effectively love man!
Wow.
Father, may my life demonstrate undivided love for You that brings Your undivided love to all.
No comments:
Post a Comment