Daily Bread 10-12-18

Luke 14:26

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.

ref. - Mt 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.

Rev 12:11 - And they overcame him by the blood of the lamb, and by the word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives unto the death.

Praise God that he gave us a Son that does not sugar coat or try to soften the way we must be. In this scripture he is trying to communicate to the people the importance of their dedication to him. Just as if we were going to war for a country they would want our complete allegiance and devotion, so does Christ require it if we are to endure this world under his leadership. We see many stories of the American civil war where brother came against brother in the heat of battle. Both believing for a different cause and joining their respective armies no matter whether family or friend would come up against them. these were men of courage standing for their beliefs at all odds. This is what we are told that we need to do to join the family that Christ is forming. Under discipleship we must practice discipline. Disciple being the root word for discipline. If we are disciplined followers, or disciples, this means obedience under correction and rebuke from our leader. Doing that he says. What Christ is forming in us is a promise that man cannot give us and a life that the world cannot provide, but he needs our allegiance and our devotion. What he really means is that in his Gospel, the one that we must follow, that we are going to have too come up against the enemy even when he works against us in our close relatives and people that we care for. Not in our brothers, sisters, fathers and mothers in Christ, but in our carnal families. Our love has to be to him first over all others. And this is not something that we join until a certain age or until we are comfortable, it is something that we will carry with us until death. This seems quite harsh you say? Consider what happened to Lot's wife as she loved the world more than God's will. She lost God and her family and her world that she held so near and dear, she lost everything. Consider what happened to Herod when he left his fear of God and allowed the people to call him a God. He not only lost the protection of God but he also lost the ones who called him a god and he lost his life. This is what Christ is trying to help us to avoid so that we may continue on to eternal life. We must not put our relatives, our material possessions, or even our own lives before his gospel and his leadership if we want to become true disciples. "Well, we are not there and we are weak", you say? This is why we have been given this time on earth, to reach the point of devotion necessary to say good bye to one another, to say good bye to our possessions, and to say good bye to this earth and welcome what is to come. And if we have been called to go into battle for this gospel while on the earth we must first have the dedication to Christ necessary to stand up to even those who we have held near and dear for our lives. If they want to join the cause, fine, if not, we must leave them behind. It is written that when what we stand for is refused that we should move on to another city(or person(s)). That there are more cities(or person(s)) under this sun than we will ever be able to reach.(Matthew 10:23 - But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another: for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come.) In Christ we have been made a part of a body. A movement that will not stop or be stopped for any man. We must pray and read and learn and let God change us internally so that we can actually one day stand before Christ himself as he is, and be called his disciples!! Sanctification is a lifelong thing so we best be getting after it as we don't know how long this life will last. Put the oil in your lamps, be working when he comes, and remember Jesus first, over all above all, and in all!! Have a great day!!!