ESOCS Devotional 17 December 2021
TEXT: LUKE 14:15-35
MEMORY VERSE:
“So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 15:33 KJV).
Let us consider first what the word “forsake” means. One Standard English Dictionary defines it as “to renounce (as something once cherished) without intent to recover or resume (a bad habit); to quit or leave entirely: withdraw from” [Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary]. When it comes to following Jesus, how much am I expected to forsake?
If I find the idea of forsaking all troubling, I find the idea of hating my closest family members doubly so. It seems strange for Jesus to demand that I hate my family. What does He mean by this? What does He mean when He says that I must also hate my own life in order to be His disciple? Jesus is describing a hate that is different from the loathing one has for a mortal enemy. The question is one of loyalty: who is first and what is most important. Jesus is calling for first place in the heart and service of His disciples and followers. Yes, He is to occupy a place above our family members and our own lives.
Followers of Jesus are those who seek first God’s Kingdom and righteousness (Matthew 6:33), setting their highest desires on spiritual things rather than earthly matters (Colossians 3:1,2). When the Lord ranks first in our hearts, then He is above all others. Though we love our family and friends dearly, because we rank our devotion to Jesus as the most important thing in our lives, in that sense we “forsake” our relationships with other humans.
Our Lord’s apostles forsook all in order to serve Him. In John 1, we read of Andrew and Simon Peter coming to Jesus for the first time. At a later point in time, when the Master called those two brothers to be fishers of men, “They immediately left their nets and followed Him” (Mark 1:18). What should motivate us to forsake all for Jesus? The Father sacrificed His Son for evildoers like you and me (John 3:16). And the Christ? He became poor so that we might be rich through His poverty (2 Corinthians 8:9). Without my Lord, “O wretched man that I am!” (Romans 7:24). May we learn to appreciate our Lord’s sacrifice and be ready to apply the words that we sing: “I Surrender All.”
- What are those things that prevent you from forsaking all for Christ?
- Father, grant me grace to forsake all and bear my cross and follow you.
Read Other ESOCS Devotional here
FURTHER READING: Matthew 10:37–39; Romans 6:10-13
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ESOCS Devotional 17 December 2021
