“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own soul, he cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:26) Was the Son of God thereby saying that those who became his followers should feel hostility or loathing toward their families or themselves? Not at all. Rather, he was making it clear that love for family and self should be placed in a secondary position. If a person failed to love God even more than he loved his relatives, he would be unable to withstand family opposition. Also, if he did not put God’s will ahead of his own desires, he would do everything within his power to follow a course that would seem most advantageous even if that meant going contrary to God’s commands. Clearly, then, one can be a disciple of Jesus Christ only if one is willing to give God the first place, a unique place, in one’s affections, regardless of what obstacles one might have to face as a result.

Nevertheless, it is still true that yielding to the influence of a close family member or friend to disregard God’s law can only spell disaster. True, such yielding might bring temporary relief from threats, abusive words and acts of violence. But at heart a person would know that he was being disloyal to God and following a course that could ultimately result in divine rejection. Even the relative or friend to whose influence he yielded would be put at a disadvantage. This one would be deprived of seeing an example in Christian living that might cause him to reexamine his attitude and perhaps become a Christian disciple himself.