BLOG ENTRY#9  February 9, 2012

From “Discipleship and Discipline”, by William H. Hicks, copyright March, 2005:

 “Speaking of Christ, what does He have to say on this point of devotion to one’s master. In Matthew 6:24, the Lord says, “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will hold to one and despise the other.  You cannot serve God and mammon.”   We must be single-minded in our focus on Christ.  Again, our Lord says, at Luke 6: 46-49, “And why do you call Me, `Lord, Lord’, and do not do what I say?  Everyone who comes to Me, and hears My words, and acts upon them, I will show you whom he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid a foundation upon the rock (singular and a singularity, i.e., there is no other rock upon which it is safe to build); and when a flood rose, the torrent burst against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built.  But the one who has heard, and has not acted accordingly, is like a man who built a house upon the ground without any foundation; and the torrent burst against it and immediately it collapsed, and the ruin of that house was great.” 

 Devotion requires sincerity that results in follow-through.  Faith is the act of trusting God.  Thus, we must act according to our master’s instructions.  Prior to that, we must be dedicated listeners, because “faith comes by hearing and hearing comes by the word of God”. What is involved in this devotion?  Looking to our Lord for wisdom, that is, what to do next, in Luke 14: 26-27, we find His instructions as written,  “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple.  Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.”  Lord!  This is “a difficult saying!  Who can listen to it?”  You’re telling us we have to hate our parents and family before we can be Your disciples?  Isn’t that a contradiction?  Didn’t You say we should honor our father and mother?  Didn’t You also say we must love one another?  What is the meaning of this?