God First, Family Second, and the Church Third!
Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. Matthew 22:37.
I remember that early in my relationship with my wife I told her that if I did not put God first and her second, I could never be the husband she needed. I know this took her by surprise but this is true. As a disciple of Christ I must come to terms that my family is second to God. My natural tendency is to become dependent upon them-upon my wife for physical and emotional comfort, and my children for companionship. If I do this, I am going against everything that characterizes the discipled man. The key word is dependence. God has graciously given me a beautiful wife in every sense of the word and wonderful children, but they must not be my dependence.
I must relate to my loved ones as Abraham related to his son Isaac. On Moriah, Abraham was willing to sacrifice his dearest possession. So, I must give them up, I must cut clean dependency forever. To be dependent on any person means to be vulnerable to tragedy. I have seen many God’s children devastated because they built their lives around their loved ones. Someone dies, a pastor fails, but we must go on living. I must always place the shadow of the cross over their faces.
This does not mean loving or enjoying them less. It simply means I cannot love them without putting Jesus between us. We must remember whatever the outcome God is still in control. I think this is what our Lord meant when He said unless I hate my loved one, I could not be His disciple. (Luke 14:26). If I consign my dear ones to Moriah it seems like hatred, but in really it isn’t rather it is the deepest kind of love, both to my Savior and my dearest early treasures. That is the inseparable kind of love Paul refers to in Romans 8, and it is born in a Calvary relationship with those who are very close and precious to me.