Derek Prince - What Does Jesus Mean By Hating Your Family To Be His Disciple?
I'm still here, I haven't been stoned. Please ask Brother Derek to deal with the two questions on Page 20. I'll do that last, that's the two questions I left. Since God's law is love, please explain Luke 14:26. This is a good question. If any man come to me, and hate not his father and mother, and wife, and children, and brothers, an sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.
So, I've said love is the rule of the Christian life which I wasn't the first person to say it, Paul said it before me. And then a statement by Jesus, you can't be My disciple unless you hate your father, your mother, your wife, your children, your brothers, your sisters, and your own life. Now, the words love and hate are used in various ways in the New Testament. And there is a way of using the two of them together in which if you love something you hate anything that interferes with your love for that thing. You see what I'm saying?
So Jesus says, I want a love for Me that will not brook any rival in any other relationship. If your father takes precedence over Me, you've got to hate him. If your wife takes preference over Me, you've got to hate her. If your husband takes precedence over Me, you've got to hate him. But, you see, and He ends up and your own life also. Your own soulish life, which I define as your will, your intellect and your emotions.
So, what you've got to say is, I lay down my will, I lay down my intellect, I lay down my emotions. If at any time they conflict with God's will for my life, I hate them. I will not let anything stand between me and my commitment to loyalty to Jesus. I hope that's been helpful.