What strong words the Lord speaks to us! Must we hate our family? Isn't the family the most important basic pillar in society? Don't we get our most inner security from the love of our family members? What if we are a little child? Are we to walk away from our mother and father? What about all our aunts, uncles, and cousins? Must we leave them all for Jesus?
Surely Jesus is not contradicting the Bible's command to honor our father and mother. And yet, from these verses it almost sounds like our Lord wants to destroy society as we know it. How then can we possibly become his disciples? Wouldn't that ruin most of us financially? How would we lead our lives without our family? How would we celebrate our holidays and observe all the important life cycles?
The answer lies in his own words: "I tell you that those who leave home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and for the gospel, will receive much more in this present age. They will receive a hundred times more houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and fields – and persecutions as well; and in the age to come they will receive eternal life." (Mark 10:29-30).
The Lord's words are true, and we must have faith that there is a bigger family reaching to the four corners of the earth, and we belong to that family. Let us not fear but let us open our hearts to our brothers and sisters in Jesus no matter where they are. For many of us they may even be located in the nations who call themselves our enemies. Even so, the redeemed of the Lord in those nations are our dear and beloved family.
- 2 MARCH -