Posted on 03/27/2008 4:49:41 AM PDT by jlsmpsamples
Do you really want to hate your family or stop from having one or he wants you to be humble as your arrogance is so great that you could leave and hate your own family in the name of God?
The Catalyst
What is it that makes your life different?
There is always something that makes you the way you are, something that is not part of your life but it had an influence in the way you do things, what you talk about, in general your "values".
A catalyst is something that produces a change, but not part of the result. Acknowledgement of what is it or was it, can make a huge difference in your life. If the catalyst was negative then a positive path might follow.
Negative circumstances can have great implication in a determination to learn more and seek change and the best performers or people that truly show what they really stand for, are the ones that really needed help understanding their own situations. Only people that know about something wrong can commit and know the cost of a solution.
A catalyst will take to a path that will define you, that can be religious, politics, human rights, etc. The more you suffered from a situation, the best student of a discipline you will be and the better you will be at correcting or helping with the problem in the future.
Religious perspective LUKE 14:26-32,- The catalyst
This has nothing to do with hate or giving up your family, but understanding!
The importance of having strong commitments to family, friends and others can not be made more clear than in Luke 14:26-32). This is a lesson and a warning by Jesus, where he tells people who his disciples should be, and what will be the result and danger of becoming self cantered religious person. You might notice though that this chapter is not about money, but self cantered believes and family.
If you read the "whole" chapter you will find that some very religious people (Pharisees) were giving Jesus a hard time, so Jesus responded really hard to the ones that believe to be too close to God or think as if they are gods, when he addressed the people. In reality the very religious people of the time were asking him "Who are you?, Who needs you?", so he told them, or better he told everyone!.
I do like this chapter because of its intelligence to denounce hypocrisy, and tell us who are the ones that are and should be his disciples. Surprisingly they are the ones that are further from him and are in need of his word.
Who needs his teachings?
Certainly not the one that has and know everything. The ones that really needs him are the ones that have broken relationships, have hate or pain and are is desperately need of his teachings - they are his disciples!. Anyone that needs to learn about forgiveness and repentance. The ones that need to learn how to love his families are his disciples. Why would you need a teacher of a specific trade if you already know the trade or if you are the teacher of that trade?
In general the more pain you have, the further away from God you are, the more you need to learn, the more you need him, and anyone with a great sin/crime (carry his cross) is also or should be his/her disciple.
"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters-- yes, even his own life-- he cannot be my disciple. And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.
So, who are his best disciples? - The ones with broken relationships, the ones that don't even like themselves anymore, the ones experiencing pain, because they are the ones that really need him. In other words this is the catalyst that brings you to him.
I'd said before, when you had a traumatic experience, you need someone to teach you how to put your life together and make changes. A person that can not longer cope with life up to the point of becoming suicidal, that is definitely a person that should seek his help and learn from his teachings. As a person becomes his/her disciple, that person will learn how to love everything he/she hates; family, friends and his/her own life.
How can crappy people, have such honour if they are a bunch of good for nothing and so far away from God?
A person that knows and chance will have the strongest motivation towards helping others. To build something you need the right materials, a strong foundation. not people that are doing it because of the "It is nice to do it" as they can easily get tired and leave the work undone or just leave because they getting scare of what people might say: The worse your experience is, the more you need to be forgiven, the more you'll have to give to others, the more peace you will seek, and if your own life was in danger then you will be able to give a whole life of commitment so others don't go through the same things:
"Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, saying, 'This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.' "Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace.
A person that has everything from a good house, a beautiful wife, peace and money a person that do not suffer from hate, prosecution or any kind of abuse, a person that is closer to God than anyone or is a God, certainly won't understand a man like Jesus, or even these verses as pride in people is a strong feeling. People like that, will question him and will ask "Why should I follow you?" or I am so close to God so "How can I be your disciple?" Well to such self cantered question he answered like this:
In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he cannot be my disciple
In other words, to understand Jesus and the ones who follow him, you have to understand that life is not always the same for everyone and unless something terrible happens you will not have a clear picture of why so many people on recovery goes and follow moral guidance through the bible. By giving up everything (the ones that love you) to understand him you will soon find out that Jesus will take you back to love your family and friends again, but beware:
Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out
Your family, partner and your own life are of incredible importance, helping families in moments of frustrations is of crucial importance for everyone. On the other hand giving up, ignoring or hating the ones you love and loves you and blaming religion for it, is doing like some of the self cantered religious people of that time, the Pharisee, thus, salt without saltiness - good for the manure pile. To hate or put down your families and the ones who love you to gain God's favour (even teaching about it) is not an answer but a curse.
This is a very important chapter as it shows the importance of relationships and keeping them, and what to do when things go wrong. The power that there is when people suffering from problems can recover and help in the building of groups that helps others. As you read the life of Jesus you will find that his whole life revolves about family, friends, neighbours and how communities and societies should do things, rather than acquiring things. It also shows who are the best students, the ones who will get the most out of Jesus - and he will refer to this again in many other places in the New Testament; the poor, the fornicator, the Peace Makers, the ones who suffer and all of the people that we don't think they are so great - well, they are his best disciples. But you can only get the meaning of these verses if you read the whole chapter, or you ever suffer from a broken relationship or great pain. As you suffer you will seek and as you seek he will provide and will restore. If you are in doubt, then read the very last words of the prophet Malachi:
“And he will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the land with a curse”, Malachi 4:6
God wants you to dedicate your life to others in need, but in a rightful way, without pride, greed, hypocrisy or at the cost of others or even the ones that loves you. He wants you to have his church strong in unity and pure, surrounded by love, children, good marriages, acceptance and understanding. No matter how big and expensive your church is, if there is no love or sin, that church doesn't have much value, the real value of a church is in its people and their commitment to life, not the opposite.
Jose Luis
Luke 8:21
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