Matthew 10:37 English Standard Version (ESV) Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

Understand that the lord has not said anything about hating family members. Being worthy of Christ is about allegiances.

Matthew 19:17-20 English Standard Version

¹⁷ And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.” ¹⁸ He said to him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, ¹⁹ Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” ²⁰ The young man said to him, “All these I have kept. What do I still lack?”

Note here that our Lord lists things for which this young man can answer positively. He believes he has done all this, yet knows in his heart it isn’t enough. Which of the Ten Commandments did Jesus leave out?

Matthew 19:21-22 English Standard Version

²¹ Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” ²² When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

Jesus left out the command, you shall have no other gods before me.

The young man loved possessions more than God.

There will be times in our lives when our choices are put into question. We will become uneasy within ourselves because we know in our hearts that we have not loved Christ as He loves us. In those moments we may find ourselves asking the Lord what we still lack.

Why is worthiness an issue in us?

Romans 6:3 English Standard Version (ESV) Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?

This is a continuation from yesterday’s devotional.

“What does it mean to be filled in Him? Filled is an indication that there is no room for self; the old man has died and relinquished control of our lives.”

Many will come to a point in understanding where we cry out “But Lord I am still a sinner.”

Consider this, that the indwelling Christ who has entered our hearts is fully God, fully man, fully Lord and fully Savior. He is able to maintain perfect performance of each and performs each role in us without compromising the other identities. As fully man, He knows how we feel. He knows us better than we know ourselves. As fully Savior He knows best how to deal with our concerns. As fully God He knows the final outcome and has the patience to see us through this life. As fully Lord He guards and protects our new heart which is His and will not allow anything to interfere with His plans for us.

Hebrews 11:1 English Standard Version (ESV) Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

This brings us full circle once again to the words in Colossians 2:2 to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge.

How precious to us is the full assurance of faith in Christ? We do not reach that point of understanding right away. This can be seen in the words “to reach” which is an expression of a thing hoped for as in Hebrews 11:1.

So why do we still cry out “Why Lord.”? It is an emotional response to a spiritual condition. We still have a mind, will and emotions which are flesh. He abides in our hearts not our heads.

John 8:34-35 English Standard Version

³⁴ Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. ³⁵ The slave does not remain in the house forever; the Son remains forever.

Patience, our Savior is at work in us.