Hate Your Parents????

Such a great post today at “Tuesdays Together“…another reminder to rejoice and be thankful – no matter where we might find God leading us.

I’m joining in today with some thoughts from my own Bible reading this morning…I’m still going through the gospels and today I was in Luke 14.

“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 14:26

Does anyone struggle with this verse? I know I have but I read a really good devotion just the other day about this very passage (of course, the Lord knew I would be getting here today) and it really helped me. The emphasis here is not to hate our parents, our children, or anyone – that would be contrary to all other scriptures…to Christ, himself. It is about our love, our commitment, to our Savior. We are to love the Lord “with all our heart, with our soul” and as our first priority. It is right to love our children and to honor our parents….but our devotion to Christ is to be even more – our highest priority!

In the passage just prior to this verse (v.15-24 of Luke 14), Christ tells the parable of the Great Supper…where those who made so many excuses missed out on God’s blessing and reward. Although the parable is more toward the lost not accepting Christ, there is certainly lesson there for believers as well. How many blessings have I missed because upside-down priorities caused me to make excuses??

There may be some situations, decisions, or circumstances where our commitment to follow Christ may actually cause division in our earthly relationships. Are we willing to be devoted to Him no matter the cost? I do know some ladies who have very strained relationships with their parents because of their faith. Its hard….and how very grateful I am to have been raised in a Christian home – with parents that shared my flove for the Lord. Did we see ever issue “eye-to-eye”?? Not always (you know, that whole discipline thing looks totally different through grandparent eyes!?!) but they understood – even appreciated – my faith. That is a rich blessing. My goodness, I miss them both so much – but I’m getting side-tracked.

You might want to join the other ladies at Tuesdays Together….I always enjoy DeeDee’s blog…..she is a military momma, too!!