When I engage with the idea of stepping into the kingdom of God and living there, I am finding more and more these days that it has to be something I want more than anything else. It was a place I lived as a teenager and somehow have lost that intensity as I married, had children and lived out my calling in my ministry. I loved so many things more.

If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. – Luke 14:26  ESV

There is no doubt that the family is one of the most important institutions God ordained that represents Himself in the Trinity and His call to honour mother and father is all over the sixty-six books of the Bible – but this verse speaks about the intensity of my relationship with Jesus has to be more than that. In fact, if not, how do I take the next step in calling myself a disciple? Disciples put Jesus first.

I can go really dogmatic here because Jesus is putting some strong words forward. But dogmatic Jesus is not. He loves and wants to draw us into His love and needs us to know how He expects us to live out our lives. He wants to challenge me to go beyond being an observer to being a committed disciple of Jesus. A committed disciple of Jesus knows that His words are everything and will commit themselves to following them.

I find myself repeating the same thing again – I come to Jesus as a disciple without reservations – I set Him first. Other relationships are definitely of lower priority than faithfulness and obedience to Jesus.

Jesus scared people away by the things He taught. People would flock to hear His teachings and after they heard they often quickly leave Him. One time an entire crowd walked away only leaving the Twelve.

Maybe the hardest words are not about priority of love, maybe it is simply ” I cannot be His disciple.” Grace is such a big part of our language these days and the radical call to complete sacrifice is also true. I believe that grace initiates and provides, so am I still called to make this life-altering, priority choice? When it comes down to it, fellowship is not the same as discipleship and seeds and soil causing germination is not the same as fruit bearing.

More and more I see my love relationship with Jesus is not a give-and-take proposition in which I sacrifice some things and hold tightly on to others. It’s everything. My love for Jesus has to be real, maybe even perfect, definitely strong, so that everything else kind of disappears in comparison. I must be prepared to surrender everything.

If I were to look at the following verses from Luke chapter 14, here would be the summary points of what it means, or what the requirements would be for me to walk as a true disciple.

• Love God supremely
• Take up Jesus’ cross
• Follow Jesus
• Count the cost
• Fulfill my one purpose in life