Jesus turned to the crowds and said, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his parents, his spouse and children, his siblings, and yes, even his own self, he cannot be my disciple!” Luke 14:26
He stopped them in their dirty, sandaled feet with that shocking statement.
Obviously, there is no half-heartedness, no neutrality, no middle ground, no lukewarmness, no fuzzy feelings in Jesus’ mind.
The praise chorus got it right: “Follow hard after Him.”
I once knew a professing Christian mother who lacked Jesus’ kind of “hatred.” All her waking hours were devoted to her 6-year-old son, with him, and for him. He dominated her conversation. She literally worshiped the ground he walked on.
I asked her one day,“ Don’t you think you give your son too much attention?”
Without hesitation she said, “Oh, no. He’s all I live for. He’s my life!”
That mother got it right. She correctly defined Jesus’ “hatred” command, but misapplied it.
Jesus is still turning to the crowds. He stopped my Floridian sandaled feet one day.
He said, “If you come to me, you must doggedly chase after me so that you cultivate such a passionate devotion for me that the attachment to everything else seems as “hatred,” a lesser love.” [Pippin’s paraphrase]
Guarded Hearts 
HI LEON AND EMILY, I MISS SEEING YOU IT WAS GOOD TO GET YOUR UMBILICAL KEEP ON WRITING I LIKED WHAT YOU WROTE WHAT WE LIVE FOR IS TO BE MORE AND MORE LIKE JESUS THAT IS MY PRAYER FOR ME HE DOES NOT WANT ME TO HATE AND I KNOW YOU KNOW THAT YOU ARE JUST TRYING TO EXPRESS THAT HE MUST BE FIRST IN OUR LIVES I LOVED MY PARENTS AND MY CHI;DREN LOVE ME I KNOW YOU TWO LOVED YOUR PARENTS AND I KNOW YOUR CHOLDREN LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU, RUTHE
I like it
Benjamin Hicks, M.D. Nuclear Medicine Resident Department of Radiological Sciences OUHSC Benjamin-hicks@ouhsc.edu
Great remembrance of our purposes and priority. This is to be my filter for activities, thoughts and enjoyment.
Thank You for sharing and leading us back to the King’s Throne,…
Nancy
Hi Leon,
Another thought provoking title and message. The word HATE evokes so many unpleasant images and is used so often in life today, that even thinking about it in the same sentence with Jesus is uncomfortable. But…. you expressed it so well, equating it with “lesser love”, and for some that should be a wake up call – spouse, children, grandchildren can be loved “too much” as the mother above proved. I’m smiling thinking about your “Floridian sandaled feet” 🙂 God bless you, love Janey