God's Glory Church

Each of us follows someone or something. Some follow the latest fashion, some follow people’s opinions, some follow a strong leader or politician, and some are ready to follow propaganda through the media. All this is clearly visible and all this speaks about the values ​​of this or that person. After all, following someone or something is always just a manifestation of a person’s inner values ​​and beliefs. This is exactly what is being revealed very clearly now in our country against the backdrop of the unleashed war in the east and undisguised aggression on the part of Russia towards the people of Ukraine. God makes everything secret obvious and no one can hide what is more valuable to him – personal comfort or the life of another person.
Christ understood very clearly the importance of who you follow and spoke about this many times in His teaching. And since today many are faced with the choice of who to trust, who to follow, and what information to allow to shape your way of thinking, I believe it is very important for us to remind ourselves once again, what did our Lord say about this?

“A great crowd went with Him; and He, turning, said to them: if anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, and wife and children, and brothers and sisters, and, moreover, his own life, he cannot be My disciple; and whoever does not bear his cross and follow Me cannot be My disciple.” (Luke 14:25-27)

During his earthly ministry (at least part of it) Christ was very popular. He was a very extraordinary person and often became a source of hot news and gossip. At all times, people tend to pay special attention and follow those who are in everyone’s sight and who are shown in every TV news release. This was the case in the time of Jesus, but this did not deceive Him at all. He knew perfectly well who was following Him and why. Indeed, many of those who followed Jesus did not follow with all zeal, but had a very superficial idea of ​​Who or what they were following. Therefore, Christ, in order to dispel all rainbow-pink ideas about following Him, speaks so radically that for many His words even today are unacceptable and in many ways incomprehensible.

“…if anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, and wife and children, and brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple…”(Luke 14:26)

The first thing Christ talks about is hatred. Moreover, he speaks in such a way that His words can very easily be misinterpreted, so it is very important for us to correctly understand what Jesus wanted to say by this. If you are careful, you can clearly see that He commands us to hate parents and family members when they threaten the reverence of God. For then they are no longer parents, no longer relatives, when they oppose us in such an important matter. This is even more clearly seen from the fact that we are further commanded to hate our souls. Without a doubt, this commandment commands us not to kill ourselves, but to abandon spiritual desires that separate us from God, and not to care about our soul (life), if we are faced with a choice – to suffer for our faith or to renounce Christ, but not to lose our personal comfort and coziness. After all, you can follow Jesus without being His disciple, and accompany the army without being its soldier; You can be a supporter of a cause without putting any effort into achieving it.

“…and whoever does not bear his cross and follow Me cannot be My disciple.” (Luke 14:27)

The second thing the Lord is talking about here is to bear your cross. After all, if we follow Christ, but have not denied ourselves and have not taken up the cross, our following of Him is meaningless. The cross is our calling in life, where the Lord has assigned us. Perhaps this does not coincide with what we would like. Therefore we experience sorrows. At the same time, wherever God places us, we are called to follow Christ – i.e. be Christians. Imitate Him. And just as He was beaten and reviled, so we must be prepared for the same. Then we will be worthy to be taught by God of His Love.

Whoever prefers earthly values ​​to the values ​​of the Kingdom of Heaven sacrifices eternal life for the sake of temporary life, and whoever renounces earthly things, even to the point of death for Christ, will inherit the Kingdom of Heaven and acquire a soul – eternal life.
Today, many believers and non-believers do not raise their voices for the truth, worrying about their opinion of themselves, fearing to lose their “dignity” in the eyes of others like themselves, trembling for their authority. It is this attitude that shows what their true value is, who they walk before and who they follow. That is why the words of Christ are so relevant for us now – to hate your way of life, which does not glorify God and leads other people away from Him, and to take up your cross, giving up personal ambitions and life comfort for the sake of pleasing Christ.