Luke 14

"You belong to Jesus not me, I just get the privilege of raising you," my dad told me often as I was growing up. When I became a parent, I realized just how much my dad's words were full of love and humility. We want to cling so tightly and try to protect our children from everything - we can even get to the point that we idolize our children or family members more than our desire to follow God. God loves our children and our family way more than we ever could - to place them in His care is the most loving thing we can do. Training our children to love Jesus and pointing our family members to Christ is the most loving thing we can do for them.

God had promised to make Abraham into a great nation. Many years passed and still there was not even one child given to him and his wife. They took matters into their own hands and Abraham had a son, but it was not the son that God had promised him. Finally when Abraham was 100 years old, the promised son was born. Through Abraham's journey with God and learning to trust Him above all else, when God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son, Abraham went without hesitation. Abraham had learned that God's promises were true and even if Abraham sacrificed his son, he believed God would raise him from the dead. 

God has not called us to hate, but He has called us to love and trust Him above all our other relationships. Remember, God loves our children and family members way more than we ever could!

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