Miseo - Hate?

Luke 14:25-26 - Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple.

How many times do we often got fears about serving the Lord? Or even how many of us actually decided not to follow Jesus becoz of this verse?

I used to ask the Lord, if I have to hate my parents, my brother, my family and even myself in order to serve Him? Recently, the Lord placed this verse into my heart and I started to wonder about it.. I was wondering what kind of hate does Jesus refer to? I dun believe that Jesus is a hard God who does not love family or people. If He is a hard God, then why did He chose to die for us, to create us, to heal us, wanting us to have a good family life, etc? Sounds very confusing huh?

Well, the word 'hate' used in most English bibles didn't explain in detail to its true meaning. The exact word used in this context is actually 'miseo' in Greek. What's the meaning?? It means hate.. The meaning is the same and so what's the difference then?? It is a whole lot of difference in its meaning.. Greek is a language that has a lot of feelings in it - just like Hebrew. We cannot deny the fact that the new testament was written in Greek. So why not go back to its original text?

Miseo here refers to the separation from entangling relationships or circumstances where worries became a hindrance to our relationship with God and us. It does not have any feelings of hatred, anger, detest in our hearts towards our families. Still blur??

For instance, when you love someone and you wanted the best for that someone, you will do anything for him/her.. And circumstances arise where you may need to separate from that someone to work on something which requires more priority, you will tend to think for that person - like "will he/she be able to take care of her when I'm away", "will he/she knows what to do when I'm not around", etc.. All these feelings of emotional bond tend to hinder us from taking the next crucial step.

I've experienced this so many times in my life and recently too.. In January, I was asked if I wanted to go China for projects. I wanted to go for it but thoughts of my mom and my family came into my mind. I decided to opt out as I can't let go of the thoughts of leaving them here in Singapore while I'm away. This became a baggage that was so heavy that I've missed my opportunity by carrying it. Well, I cannot sit down here to regret. I believe that the Lord will bring in more better opportunities for me even if I don't go for that option. Likewise, when we decided to go on to serve the Lord, we need to put down this emotional bond and serve fully to the Lord. I recalled the Lord prompting me if I'm trusting Him to take care of my family while I'm not with them everyday for a certain period.

To be truthful, I said 'No.' And I can't put down my heart of not serving and leaving the church for my job. I love my church too much right now that it is very difficult for me to go without serving. I remembered years ago that I had a terrible phobia about serving the Lord.. I don't know why and the only thing I know now is that I'm serving in 2 ministries.. Not on my own self-effort, but I believe it's the calling that the Lord had for me. In fact, I thank God for the strength to be able to serve in these 2 ministries that I'm in right now and I'm totally enjoying myself when I'm serving.. :) Praise Jesus!!

Today, one of my ministry team-mates was asking me to do the teaching to the children and I was dumbfounded. I told her that I wasn't ready as it was a very high responsibility role. Suddenly, the same teacher was discussing with another teacher about looking at ourselves and not letting God to do. Wah.. That really struck my heart and that moment, I was dumb.. I didn't know what to say or think..

Well, if this is really the next calling the Lord has for me, the Lord will bring this up to me again. Otherwise, I will simply enjoy all that I am doing right now. In fact, I'm having a lot of fun with the children and I simply love all of them. Though some of them can be a real challenge, they are just simply a bunch of lovely kids.. Well.. As for my career, I have to trust the Lord for a new company with loads of favor with the bosses, good pay increment with good benefits.. There's nothing much I can do for my own career but God can do all things in my career.. :)