Hello largecar ...

[Matthew 10:37]
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

We covered a topic in one of our prayer emails on the book of Ecclesiastes. The excerpt is below:

[Ecclesiastes 3:7-8a]
7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep
silence, and a time to speak;
8 A time to love, and a time to hate;

When I had the revelation of these verses here being a
progression, what really baffled me was how can hate
be a progression from love. The answer is found below:

[Luke 14:26]
26 If any man come to me, and hate not his father,
and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and
sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my
disciple.
27 And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come
after me, cannot be my disciple.

The words used in Luke is even stronger... whosover hates not his father or mother. The bible does not contradict itself. One of the 10 commandments is to honour our parents. A man is told to love his wife ... etc.

This verse is said in context to our love for God. Our love for God is to be above the love of self. If you really think about it, your wife, your kids, your parents are many times "YOUR" possessions. These are the people that you hold dear to your heart and they are part of your life. Sometimes we are so caught up living our lives for ourselves, we forget that our primary reason for living and the primary love of our lives is God. Once, we learn to love God more than others, we learn to take up our Cross and follow Him, everything else will fall in place. Including our families, the desires of our hearts. A godly man will love his wife as Christ has loved his church and learn to bring up his children in the ways of God. When we learn to love God more than we love our lives or our possessions, God has promised us that we will find our lives. And God has promised us abundant life. This is found in the next verses after Matthew 10:37.

[Matthew 10:38-39]
38 And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.
39 He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

If we are to love anyone more than God, we have already trespassed his commandment to worship only Him. Some people worship their children and live their lives for their children. Then when their children disappoints them or moves away from home, their lives are shattered. When God becomes the center of our lives and the center of our worship, our love for our children, our parents and our spouses will be placed in the right perspective.