Matthew
10:37 “He that loveth father or mother
more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than
me is not worthy of me.”
When Jesus
made this statement it sounded so radical and when you look at it at first it
is as if he is contradicting everything that he taught about concerning God’s
Grace towards us. What he was talking about is the attitude that it takes to be
victorious in this fallen world. This is the same attitude that the young
Israelite captives had when faced with Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon (Dan 3:17-18).
They believed that God would save them from the furnace. But they also
mentioned that even if they were not delivered, they would still not waver in
their belief in the living God.
When Jesus
says that if you love your family more than him then you are not worthy of him,
he is talking about attitude. God is the creator of marriage and of family and
God is more interested in the unity of family than any of us will ever be
because marriage is the expression of Christ’s love for the church (Eph 5:32).
So by saying that if you love your family more than him, you are not worthy of
him, Jesus is not talking about splitting up families. The scripture that helps
us understand this better is 1 Cor 10:13 “There
hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you
to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make
a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” This scripture simply means that God would never
let things get as bad as to mess up your relationship with your family, he
loves you too much to let that happen.
But that
attitude is the one that overcomes the world (1Jn 5:4). It means that you are
not pursuing relationship with God because of what he can do for you but
because of who he is. Interestingly this is the same thing talked about in Matt
6:33. I have had a number of temptations and situations come against me where
it was evident in the natural that I had lost everything but because of this
revelation, I found myself saying “even if I never see the manifestation of my
victory in this situation, I will never doubt that God answered my prayer”. And
as surely as the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, not long after I
had made this confession, the manifestation came through for me.
It is
important to remember this, that no truth in the Bible functions independent of
other truths. That is why it is important for us to read the whole bible but
most importantly to ask God for reveal to us what we read in the bible. The
danger with pursuing a relationship with God because of what he can do is that
when it doesn’t seem to be happening, there is a huge tendency to give up
because proverbs 13:12 says “Hope deferred
maketh the heart sick: but when
the desire cometh, it is a tree
of life.” When you hope for something for so long and it doesn’t come, it makes
your heart sick.” So if your relationship with God is based on what he can
do, then the disappointments could make you lose hope. Yet God wants so much to
bless us and it is not him who withholds the blessings but Satan can affect the
manifestations of your blessing because they come through people (2Cor 4:4).
I encourage
you to develop the attitude that even if you never see victory in this lifetime
(which is so short compared to eternity), you will never doubt that in Christ
you are victorious. With this attitude believe me you can never exit this life
before experiencing the manifestations of that victory because of 1Cor 10:13
& Matt 6:33.
