Loving God More

Matthew 10:37-38

It's the morning that Abraham has been called to sacrifice his son Isaac. What is going through his head? Does he remember all the years he waited for a son? Does he remember God's promises written in the stars? Does he remember how soft Isaac's skin was when he first held him?

God has probably asked no greater test than the test he gave Abraham. Do you love me more than you love your son? Do you love me enough to obey me when it means sacrificing him?

Up to this point, Abraham didn't have a very good track record of passing God's tests. He had put his safety above his obedience to God and possibly his wife's safety as well (Genesis 12:14). Imagine him saying, "Sarah, just tell them you're my sister, and they will let me live". He had put his desire to have a son over God's timing for the promised son (Genesis 16). "Yes Sarah, I'll sleep with your maid Hagar if that's what it will take to have a son."

So Abraham is given one more test, an incomprehensible test. "Then God said, 'Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about" (Genesis 22:2). Would he pass the test?

As he and Issac climbed Mount Moriah, Isaac asked, "The fire and wood are here. . .but where is the lamb for the burnt offering? Abraham answered, 'God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son'" (Gen. 22:8).

God would provide the lamb. That was the first sign that Abraham would pass this test. He would move forward in obedience to God because he knew that God would provide for him despite how unfavorable the circumstance looked. If God could make an old woman and an old man have a child, surely God would find away to open both the door to obedience, and a door to Abraham's deepest desires. But like Daniel's three friends, he was willing to obey even if the consequences didn't align with his desires. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednigo had once said, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up" (Daniel 3:16-18).

This is the rawest obedience. It is an obedience that on one hand trusts that "God will provide"; it recognizes on the other hand that obedience may come at a very high cost.

The most difficult cost of obedience is the loss of a relationship. Following Christ might mean becoming estranged from one's parents or children. This painful cost makes shrink back from obedience. Often the attitude is "I will do anything God as long is it does hurt my relationship with _________________."

But Jesus was very clear:"Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me" (Matthew 10:37).

Christ asks us to be our first priority. The interesting thing is that he would later show where his priority was. What was his priority? Us. He valued us more than his own life. "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends" (John 15:13). And the Father valued us more than he valued his son's life. "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son" (John 3:16).

While putting Christ above any relationship might come at a terrible cost, often what looks like a loss will be a gain. It comes from a principle also found in Matthew 10. "Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it" (Matthew 10:38). Put Christ over the relationship and discover that relationship that looked shaky has become solid. Christ first means that we start to look and act like him. Add more patience, self-giving, gratitude, generosity, kindness, and prayer to any relationship and often the effect is for the relationship to mature, deepen, and sweeten.