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Thursday,
November 13, 2008
A Love Hate Relationship
Luke 14:26-27 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. (27) And
whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my
disciple. (KJV)
Williams New Testament translation
of Luke 14:26-27
26. "If anyone comes to me and does
not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and
sisters, and still more, his own life too, he cannot be a disciple of mine.
27. Whoever does not persevere in carrying his own cross and thus following
after me, cannot be a disciple of mine.
A loving God is asking me to hate others,
especially those that I have been close to in the past? Well actually what
He is asking is not to hate in the sense that we think of the word hate (to
despise or think ill against), but rather the word hate simply means to love
less. If you desire a strong relationship with our Father then you need to
realize that there can be no one, or no thing in this life that will have
more influence on you than your love and commitment to Him. Our Lord had to
bear a cross and follow through with that in order to be resurrected and
seated at the right hand of the Father. In order for you to experience a
resurrection and obtain your eternal inheritance you too will have to take
up a spiritual cross and die to anyone or anything that is not building you
up, but rather keeping you stuck in the realm of the flesh. Remember what
God asked of Abraham? Well in essence God is asking the same of you; taking
someone or something dear to you and leaving it at His alter and then
moving forward in what He is asking.
2 Corinthians 5:16-17 Wherefore
henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ
after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more. (17) Therefore if
any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away;
behold, all things are become new. (KJV)
In your life in the past your knowledge
was based on a carnal one, surrounded by carnal people of this world. Once
you became born again into the realm of the Spirit, old things, old
thinking and ways were passed away and now all things become new. What you
considered your family in the past was based on a physical blood line, but
now you realize that you have a new family based on the Spiritual blood
line, those that hear the word of God and are doers of it. You will also
experience and find out that many of those you looked up to and were near
and dear to you in that past life, are no longer building you up, but in
many cases would rather see you stay as one of them, still holding to the
things of this life. So how does one handle these situations; and what
needs to be done if you truly desire to move forward in your walk with the
Lord and endure to the end?
Luke 14:28-33 For which of you, intending
to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he
have sufficient to finish it? (29) Lest haply, after he hath laid the
foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock
him, (30) Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish. (31)
Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down
first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that
cometh against him with twenty thousand? (32) Or else, while the other is
yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of
peace. (33) So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that
he hath, he cannot be my disciple. (KJV)
It’s called inventory time people, time
to find out if there is something or someone hindering your walk with the
Lord, and what needs to be done to remedy the situation. Are you in this
race, the path God chose for you before the foundation of the world, for
the long haul, or did you just stop by to get some provisions and then move
on in your own direction? Have you really counted the cost, not what man
and his religions say, but what it really costs you to inherit eternal
life? As we see in the example set by our Lord Himself, it cost Him His
life, one that ended in crucifixion. It doesn’t matter if you attend some
religious service on a weekly basis, or should I say weakly basis, what
really matters and counts the most is if you are willing to forsake all
that you have, or all that you hold near and dear to you in order to truly
be one of our Lord’s disciples. This is where the many that are called draw
the line and walk no more with the Lord, even though they may still profess
to be one of His; the reality is that they are not truly one of His
disciples. You wonder why your walk is stale at times, like nothing is
happening and there is more confusion than peace in your life? Obviously
there is someone, or something that you consider nearer and dearer to you
than our Lord, and according to the Word that just won’t work.
Deuteronomy 13:6-10 If thy brother, the
son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom,
or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying,
Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy
fathers; (7) Namely, of the gods of the people which are round about you,
nigh unto thee, or far off from thee, from the one end of the earth even
unto the other end of the earth; (8) Thou shalt not consent unto him, nor
hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou
spare, neither shalt thou conceal him: (9) But thou shalt surely kill him;
thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the
hand of all the people. (10) And thou shalt stone him with stones, that he
die; because he hath sought to thrust thee away from the LORD thy God,
which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.
(KJV)
You think you got it rough! Well back in
the Old Testament if there was someone that was misleading, and having more
of an influence on them than God, it was required of them to stone that
person to death, no matter how close they were to them. That wouldn’t have
been easy would it, especially if it involved one of your own children.
Today the Lord is asking His people to die to the situation or person,
rather than stoning them, which symbolized putting it to death and
eliminating the hindrance.
Matthew 26:41-42 Watch and pray, that ye
enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is
weak. (42) He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my
Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will
be done. (KJV)
You know the Lord didn’t exactly like
what He was facing either, but realized it was the only way to please His
Father in Heaven and redeem mankind. The spirit is willing because it will
operate in the realm of God, while those that are in the flesh cannot
please Him. Which realm are you in today; and who or what has the most
influence on you, God or the things of this world and those that hold to
it? It is truly a love hate relationship if one desires to inherit eternal
life, because in order to love our Lord you have to hate, or love less, the
influences of anything or anyone that still holds to this fallen realm more
than God.
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