The Cost of Following Jesus

Matthew 10:37

• Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

Jesus is clear in this verse that we cannot and must not love anyone more than him, even if that someone is a member of one's family.

One of the reasons for this commandment is the issue of lordship. Who is the lord of my life? Whose will do I follow? Whose word, expectation and example dominate my mind?

 If, for example, let's say that I love my earthly father more than my heavenly Father. And that my earthly father is an unbeliever and wants me to stop reading the Bible and going to the church. If I loved my earthly father more than my heavenly Father, I would follow my earthly father's instruction and disobey my heavenly Father's commandments. I would be submitting to my earthly father's commandments, will, word, and expectation.

 Also, if Abraham loved his son, Isaac, more than God then he would not have offered Isaac on the altar, which would have resulted in a different course of history (even though, it was providential, that God worked in Abraham to inbirth faith so that he would submit to God, believing that God is good and He does what is right always.).

 It is important to remember that God did not spare His own Son, Jesus Christ and gave Him for us and let Him die on the cross for our sins. If God spared His own Son, there would be no cross, or atonement or salvation for us.

 Matthew 10:38

• And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.

When we suffer i.e. take our cross and follow him, we get a glimpse of suffering he went through for us. Choosing to suffer for someone else is sacrificial love, and Jesus died for us while we were still sinners.

• Romans 5:8 "but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

And God wants the best for us.

 Romans 8:29 "for those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers."

 Ephesians 5:27 "so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish."