Luke 14:26 - "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. "
I don't think Jesus is saying that we should hate those people who we are in significant relationship with. I think this is more about what you place hope in. Is your hope for happiness and fulfillment in your family or in the conduct of your own life or is it in your relationship with Jesus. Christian commitment starts with recognizing that it isn't about my life, it is about the Lord of my life - Jesus Christ.
Luke 14:33 - "In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple."
Is Jesus literally saying we should give away everything we have to be his disciple. Again I think he is speaking of a heart condition. Are you willing to give up anything you have for the sake of your relationship with Him. As with Abraham when God asked him to sacrifice his son Isaac, what God really wanted to know was that Abraham was willing to give anything in obedience to the Lord. So it is with us, God wants to know that we are not placing anything above Him.
It is easy to read this and think life is going to be hard and unpleasant; that anything we enjoy will be something we have to give up. But my experience has been that God wants to bless us with an abundant life (Jn 10:10). He knows how to give us good gifts (Matt 7:11). He wants us to have a balanced life - that is why he established a Sabbath rest for us each and every week. You will likely find that once you have let go of some things in your heart, that you now will be able to morefully enjoy those very things to the fullest.
Now it is interesting to me that this teaching from Jesus comes right after He describes those who have been invited to a great banquet, but when it came time for the event, many made excuses about why they couldn't come. I have at times in my life simply refused to come to the "banquet" when God was calling me. Someone would approach me with an opportunity to serve and my mind immediately went to all the reasons why I didn't have time or just couldn't do it at the time. Really the only reponse I or anyone should have when called upon is to seek the Lord to see if it is He who is calling. If the "invitation" isn't for me, I can in good faith decline the opportunity. If it is God's will for me, then there is but one response: "Yes."
The bottom line to both these teachings is to understand whose life it is anyway. When we come to follow Jesus, it is no longer our life, it is His. We just have to get over the fear that if we give our life up to Him that it will be all sacrifice all the time. That is not what He has in mind. Yes there will be times of sacrifice, but there will also be times blessing. Matt 16:25 says "For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it." To find true life, we have to be willing to lose our life for Jesus. This doesn't just mean be willing to die for Him, but on a daily basis be willing to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Him (Luke 9:23).
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