Matthew 10:34-42
Love God Most of All

"Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn
    " 'a man against his father,
        a daughter against her mother,
    a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law--
        a man's enemies will be the members of his own household.'

"Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

"He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives the one who sent me. Anyone who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet's reward, and anyone who receives a righteous man because he is a righteous man will receive a righteous man's reward. And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward."

New International Version

When I encounter a passage that makes me uncomfortable, as does this one, it usually means I need to take it more seriously.

In doing some "spring cleaning", I have decided I need to give away some old items that I long ago replaced, including the guitar I played as a teenager. I dearly loved that guitar, and spent many hours with it practicing, singing with friends, and leading songs at youth camps. As much as I treasure those memories, I need to move on and give that old guitar to someone who will use it. I can accurately say I loved that guitar, but that's a very thin kind of love.

I can't think about the guitar of my teens without thinking about my girlfriend of those years and all the love songs I sang to her. I meant every word I sang, at least to the extent I could understand love at that age. She was so special to me as we shared our high school years together, but our college years strained that romance until it ultimately broke. I know I loved her, but that was destined to be only a temporary love.

I love my wife of 25 years, and we are both committed to keeping our marriage strong. We have a wonderful partnership and friendship, and I know I would go to extremes to nurture and preserve our marriage. I want this romance to last forever, but I see so many of my friends who have had their marriages fail. Those examples sober me to the potential and make me work harder to make sure our love will last.

We have a delightful daughter, now in her twenties, and I love her so very much! It is a marvel that this talented, compassionate, intelligent, and genial young woman is my daughter, and she will always be my daughter, no matter what happens. There is a sense of complete abandon in my love for her, for I feel like there is absolutely nothing I would not do for her to make her life better and easier.

I can read this teaching of Jesus and gladly give up the guitar that I loved. I am willing to love Jesus more than I love acquaintances and friends, for I recognize that those relationships are temporary but my relationship with Jesus is forever. But Jesus calls each of us to the far more difficult task of loving Him more than we love those closest to us. As strongly as I want my marriage to prosper, and dearly as I cherish my daughter, I have to be willing to let those go if Jesus compels me to do so.

I cannot fathom such an action! Surely God wouldn't break up my marriage and my family! Yet Jesus warned his disciples of that possibility in this passage, and history has witnessed thousands of relationships broken when someone found the greatest Love of all in the person of Jesus.

It is a matter of faith and love. Do I have faith in my own sense of what is best for my closest human relationships, or do I instead trust God to bless and guide those relationships? Do I hold on so tightly to these loved ones that I hinder how God can be at work in them or in me? If I want the best for my wife and daughter, doesn't that include most of all that I want them to have a stronger relationship with Jesus? As weak and flawed as I am, wouldn't I want God's Love in me to share with them?

This is a painful lesson that we must struggle over and over to learn. Just as we are promised that nothing can separate us from the Love of God, we cannot allow anything to interfere with our love for God. We can agree that God's best far exceeds the best we can imagine in this life, but we are called to more than a mental acknowledgement. We must love God so completely that, with God's help, we can release our clinging hold on anything that isn't God, and we can trust the promises that God will provide us with far more than we ever give up for the sake of God's Kingdom.