“If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.
Luke 14:26
When I first read this the other day, I was like WOW!!! Jesus used a really strong word here, I was always told as a kid to never say that I hated anyone. So I decided to check into why Jesus choose this word. As Websters dictionary defines hate is "extreme dislike", vines bible dictionary defines it as "preferring one thing over another". So Jesus wasn't talking about hating in the way I thought at first, He was simply saying that we should prefer to follow Him over following our family, or ourselves. You should definitely love your family but, you must be obedient to God first before all things.
“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.
Matthew 6:24
The word hate in this verse is the same form of what Jesus was talking about it Luke 14:26. We can't serve a member of our family or ourselves and serve God for we will prefer one over the other, just the same as we can't serve God and mammon(riches, money, or possessions). If we put our confidence in our riches, possessions, money, ourselves or our family members it will fail it will let us down, but if we put our confidence in God almighty it will be a success every time.
If we will prefer Jesus over our family, possessions, and even our own lives God will bless us for our obedience. Even though the decision to follow Christ may not be the easiest or most popular. It must be the one thing you stand firm in. One must not compromise his devotion to Christ. Obedience to God's will is the key to a happy and full life.
