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‘He that loveth father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me.’
Mat_10:37
II. The phrase of ‘hating father and mother’ is explained by not ‘loving father or mother more than’ Christ.
III. The Lord’s demand here, is that the first place in the heart’s affections be given to Him.
IV. This implies that His love wants our love in return.
V. The Old Testament enjoined, and the conduct of the apostles illustrated, this condition.
VI. Every missionary is an example of its fulfilment.
VII. The calls of the mission-fields of the world are the strongest test of our obedience to this condition.
The Rev. Hubert Brooke.
A TREMENDOUS CLAIM
I. To be loved by all.—Our Lord demanded to be loved by all. What an enormous demand that is upon mankind! Man loves his father and mother; he becomes the head of a household, he loves his family. He may perhaps go a little bit beyond that and love his relations. Outside that, perhaps his friends, and a little farther than that, he may love his country. How impossible it seems to go beyond that, and to love with that universal love which our Lord demands.
II. To be loved above all.—And not only so, but our Lord demands to be loved above all. Have you considered at all what that claim is? We think of the love of brother and sister, and know that it is indeed a great and binding tie. Or we think of the love of the child for its father, and we think that that is, perhaps, the very depth of love. Or we think of the love of the mother for her child, and perhaps of all beautiful things in this unlovely world, there is not a more beautiful or touching sight than the mother with her infant at her breast. And yet there is, perhaps, humanly speaking, one love that is even beyond that, which in this life is the tenderest, deepest of all love, the love of husband for wife and wife for husband. Yet our Lord demands a love deeper than all these.
III. But it was not till Pentecost that the claim was obeyed.—We see, too, that our Lord said this great love would not be given Him during His life, but after His death. He was not loved much in His life. On that Day of Pentecost men came forth from their hiding-places where they feared the very sight of the soldiery, and the one who had denied Him preached that wonderful sermon when three thousand were baptized. On another occasion he preached, and thousands were added to the Church. Those men, timorous no more, were filled with the Holy Ghost, and went out to plant the Church in all lands, and willingly gave up their lives for Christ, and all suffered the martyr’s death.
IV. Let it be obeyed to-day.—There are many things in this world that you cannot control, but this is in your hands, to see that you profess your faith in Jesus Christ, amidst all the temptations of the world, the flesh and the devil which crowd upon you, amidst all that tries to draw you away from God and from living that supernatural life which He calls you to live. Let the result of our meditations be to draw from you another act of faith, and a deeper act of love, so that when at the last day we stand before Him face to face, we may be able to say, ‘Lord, I have loved, I have tried to answer to Thy call, perhaps not with great success, but I have tried in so far as in me lies to respond to Thy call, and to love Thee above all things.’
—
The Rev. W. H. Bleaden.