Charles Spurgeon Commentary Luke 14:25-26

"Now there went with him great multitudes: and he turned, and said unto them, If any man cometh unto me, and hateth not his own father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple." — Luke 14:25-26 (ASV)

And he turned and said to them, 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.

Do not misunderstand this passage. Our Lord does not use the word "hate" in our common understanding of the term, because no one would hate his own life; but he means that the love of all these must be secondary to the love we have for him. Compared with our love for our Lord, all lesser love must be more like hate. We must be willing to give up everything—to give up even ourselves, our entire selves—to him, for Christ will have all or nothing. He will never divide the human heart with any rival. If we profess to serve him, we must have him as our only Master, and not attempt to serve two masters.

I fear that this truth greatly needs to be emphasized today, for we have many so-called Christians, who are worldlings first, and then Christians afterwards. We have a great many professing Christians who might be accurately described by the words of a little girl concerning her father. When someone asked her, "Is your father a Christian?" she replied, "Yes, but he has not worked much at it lately." There are plenty of that sort. Christianity is their trade, their business, their profession; but they have not worked much at it lately; they practice it very superficially indeed. Let it not be so with us; if we would be followers of Christ, our whole hearts must be his.