This past Sunday was Mother’s Day, and I know you’re all aware of that, based simply upon the amount of photos I saw on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter of you and your moms/grandmothers. I cannot tell you how many statuses I saw dedicated to moms and grandmothers and great-grandmothers. I must admit, it’s a pretty awesome thing when so many people are putting out such uplifting vibes. I’m sure Kid President was proud!
But here’s the thing I’ve been wondering: how much do we love our parents? Father’s Day will be rolling around before we know it, and I’m sure the posts will clog my news feed yet again, and I’m glad! I want people to honor and respect their parents. I was thrilled to be able to post photos of me and my mom and grandmother. It’s exciting, and a perfect time to show how much we love them. But again I ask, how much do we love them?
In Luke 14:26, Jesus said, “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.”
What Jesus was not saying here is that we should hate our parents. He was not bashing Instagram photos and celebrating Mother’s Day. What he was (and IS) saying is that we cannot love our parents more than we love Him. If we want to be His disciples, His followers, we must put Him above everything and everyone–including our parents.
I saw so many people proclaiming their love and gratitude toward their moms this past weekend, and I was happy to see it. No doubt God is pleased when He sees His created obeying His command to honor father and mother (Eph. 6:1-2). How much more pleasing would it be to God if we, His created, expressed our love and gratitude for Him in the same way? If we let our love for Him take over our social media? If we let our devotion to Him find itself expressed in praise and the giving of our time and resources?
God wants us to love our parents. God wants us to honor and respect them. Still, Jesus commanded that if we are going to be His disciples, we are going to love Him most. We are going to make Him our life; putting everything else in its proper place–below Him.
So think about your weekend. How much time did you spend preparing for Mother’s Day? How much time did you spend honoring your mom? How much money did you spend, time did you give? How many statuses did you devote to her? Now think about God. How much time do you spend honoring Him each week? How much time do you spend preparing to worship Him on His day? How many statuses do you devote to the One who is supposedly your life?
Every Sunday is our Father’s day, so let us not neglect Him. Let us prepare throughout the week to praise Him and spend time with Him. Let us sacrifice time and resource. Let us dedicate our tweets and statuses to Him. Let us show by our actions that we are truly Jesus’ disciples, and that we love Him more than father and mother and brother and sister and husband and wife.
