This last week I’ve been struggling with a certain bible verse. This bible verse is Luke 14:26, it says “If you want to be my disciple, you must hate everyone else by comparison-your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters- yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple.” Luke 14:25-35 is all about the cost of being a disciple. I definitely recommend reading this passage when you get a chance.
I would call myself a disciple and I believe many people who are reading this blog would consider themselves a disciple as well. For those of you who don’t know what a disciple is, a disciple is a personal follower of Jesus. Reading this passage, I understand what Jesus is saying but the part that I struggle with in this passage is in Verse 26. He says “Yes, even your own life”.
I love my life, I truly do. I am forever grateful and thankful for everything God has given me. I am thankful for my church, friends, family, North Central, job, the car I drive, the opportunities I have, the trips I have taken, the leadership roles I have, and the list can go.
As I was going throughout my week, I kept thinking about this specific bible verse. That I have to hate even my own life. The more I thought about it, the more that I realized that my life would be meaningless without my relationship with Christ. My church would be nothing without Christ. Me going to college to get an education so I can follow the plans the Lord has for me would be meaningless without Christ. Working my job to make money would be meaningless because at the end of the day money can’t buy your happiness and love, it can fill it for a moment but that about it. The car I drive would be meaningless without Christ because the Lord gave me my car so I can serve people and go where I need to go. My life would be meaningless without Christ.
The hard one to say that would be meaningless without Christ is my family and friends. But truly, without Christ, my heart would still have a hole that needs to be filled. My friends and family can’t fill that hole, they can for a moment, but we are humans and we make mistakes. We can’t rely on people to make us whole because we fail. I fail as a human.
Our love for Christ must be in such a big capacity that our love for our life and everything that is included in that must be hate. When I think of this I think of a scale. 1 being the lowest and 10 being the highest. We will call this the love scale. We can love pizza at a 2 on the love scale, then love our dog at a 5. We can love our family at an 8, but we have to love Christ at a 10. That above all else, our love and devotion to Christ must always be first.
After thinking about this passage throughout my week, I understand this scripture a little bit more. I was challenged by this scripture. My life is really nothing without Christ. I encourage you this week to find a piece of scripture in the bible that messes with you, a bible verse that makes you think. Find a passage that makes you ask questions. Ask God to reveal to you more about this scripture and he will do so. Just ask. Maybe, just maybe it will challenge you and cause you to grow while you’re at it.
Much Love and Much Coffee
Brytt
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