Don't Put Jesus First

 December 6, 2024

Friday

Luke 14:26 (ESV) ²⁶  “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.

It is common to hear Christian leaders urging people to put Jesus first. I think that is a misconception of our relationship with Him. It isn't so much wrong as it is limited. To put something first is to put it at the top of a list of other things. It may give it value or even priority but that isn't what Jesus seems to be saying here. There is no mention of love in this verse. Hate is the central word. It places everything on the list that Jesus gave us in a different category. He is not first among the loved but "the Only" set apart from the other things that may be loved. In other words, He is in a category all by Himself. He is not on a list with other people or things.

This is why we don't understand the word "hate" used here. Jesus wasn't telling people that His disciples must refrain from loving family, others and even their own lives. He was setting Himself in a different place from that love. He is central to all that we are if we are His disciples. That is beyond simply stating that a person is saved. This is truly following Him. Very few people get to this place in their lives even if they are saved.

Matthew 10:37 (ESV) 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.

This verse speaks of being worthy of Him rather than being a disciple. The word here for love means "a strong kinship type of love." A person is not worthy of Jesus if their kinship with their family is stronger than that with the Lord. The word "worthy" means deserving of. Of course, none of us is deserving of Jesus. When it comes to love, we must make sure that our love exceeds that of all other people or things. Again, this is not the conception of first. This is the ranking of an amount. While I may put someone first because I love them more, it still refers to an amount of love rather than a place with others in that category. 

So, we should place Jesus in a whole other category. It is so different that those whom we love do not rank in this category. Otherwise, we will be making excuses when we choose to be disobedient to the Lord. We will say, "I love you, Jesus, but I can't give like you have told me to because my family wants something," or "I love you, Jesus, but I can't serve you because my family needs me now."

Remember there was a man who told Jesus he needed to bury his father before he could follow Jesus. Most don't understand the Lord's attitude here. It seemed that Jesus should have allowed him to bury his father before he followed Jesus. That wasn't the case. Why not?