Luke 14:25 And there were great crowds going along with Him, and He turned and said to them, (26) If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, and moreover, even his own soul-life, he cannot be My disciple. Matt 10:37 He who loves father or mother above Me is not worthy of Me, and he who loves son or daughter above Me is not worthy of Me;
In 14:25-35 we have the Lord’s teaching concerning how to follow Him. According to His word in verse 26, we need to hate anything or anyone that would frustrate us or distract us from the proper enjoyment of Christ. It is not the Lord’s intention to teach us to hate anyone. Rather, His intention is to teach us to hate the frustrations and distractions, to hate whatever would distract us or keep us from the enjoyment of Christ. The Lord, of course, teaches us to love others. Not only should we love the members of our family; we should even love our enemies. In fact, we also need to love ourselves. Therefore, the Lord teaches us to love everyone.
Why, then, does He in verse 26 apparently teach us to hate our father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, and even ourselves? The reason for His teaching here is that this kind of love often frustrates us from the proper and faithful enjoyment of Christ. What we should hate is the frustration, not any person. The Lord does not teach us to hate persons, but He does teach us to hate the distractions, frustrations, hindrances, and obstacles. He teaches us to hate whatever keeps us from following Him faithfully. If we do not have a hatred for what frustrates our enjoyment of Christ, we shall be disqualified from enjoying the jubilee in the coming age.
Prayer Confession Loving Father thank you for this word and knowledge about the many things that distract us from enjoying Christ. Lord, we ask for the grace and power of hating the frustrations, and distractions while not hating people but loving them in Jesus’ name, Amen.