Putting Jesus First

Jesus speaks strongly about the necessary mindset for being one of his disciples:  "If anyone comes to me without hating his father and other, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.  Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.....everyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple."  (Lk 14:  25-26, 33).  Does he mean this literally or is he using hyperbole to make a point?   Scholars agree that the "hating" is not to be taken literally, but is to be seen as an accepted means of emphasis, as we would use bold print, italics or an underline to stress a point.  But carrying our cross and renouncing possessions need to be taken seriously. The underlying message is that Jesus must come first in our lives.  If not, we fail to have the freedom to live out his full message and to follow him as closely as we can.  Fall house cleaning, readying for Christmas, these things we do naturally can help us to rid our homes of unnecessary THINGS, and in the same way, a cleaning out of our attitudes, a prioritizing of our values, an honest evaluation of our relationship with Jesus can clear the decks and allow us to put Jesus first.  Then all else will fall into place.
Bro. Rene