Luke 14:26 says, "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple."

Growing up as a youth, going to four years of Ambassador College and listening to the Bible expounded for a total of approximately 43 years, I have always heard this scripture reduced to "it does not literally mean hate, it means love less by comparison."

While I agree with that explanation, when I look at the Greek, I cringe at thinking that is about as far as many have gone with meditating on what Jesus, the Word, was teaching us (from the Father).

The first part warns us to not put any family member in the way of loving God, obeying God and His commandments. Yet often, people don't seem to flinch at the reality of putting a family member first.

As you reflect, have you let any family member get in the way of assembling at a holy convocation? This is probably the most obvious one to me. I have been there and done that, but I am sober about my past.

This is just one area, among many, that we can reflect upon. We justify that God will understand—that we are showing love to our mate by staying home with him or her when actually he or she could survive quite well without our choice to do that. (Of course, there is a balance here, and God will understand if our mate or other family member really needs us during a severe illness or trial.)

The second area of this verse deals with our life: "and his own life also." We are so programmed for self-love and self-preservation, that we can easily not grasp the depth of this teaching from our Lord.

Our human nature glosses over this so quickly. If we see the reality of it, then it requires self-examination. When we are so quick to protect "our rights," defend ourselves with gusto, not turn the other cheek, not go the extra mile, not deny ourselves, but seek to save ourselves—are we kidding ourselves about our understanding of verse 26?

Would God want us to minimize this verse and expect Him to understand and accept our selfish choices? Or would it be better to go overboard a bit knowing we would probably find the middle road better since we are inclined to be liberal with ourselves in this?

Wouldn't it be better for God to tell us one day, "Hey, you were too zealous in this," rather than to express to us His profound disappointment because we were not zealous enough?

Think about this in your eating and drinking, choices about your use of time, your entitlements, accusations and defenses. Think about this in your service or lack of it to the Body of Jesus Christ. Think about it in how you take care of the temple of the Holy Spirit of God for service to Him.

Consider this verse next time you hear the words of Romans 12:1: "Present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service." If you choose to do that, He will be glad you did, and if He is glad you did, you will be too!