"Kind of possessive"

A recent conversation with a friend of mine got me thinking. My friend has been interested in Jesus for some time and lately has been intrigued by what Christians believe about things like work, marriage, friends, and family.  As I was reading again what the Bible says about these things, I was struck by how it sometimes makes seemingly contradicting statements.  For example, Scripture holds a high view of the family and encourages Christians to make the care of their family a central part of their life (e.g. Ephesians 5:22-6:4, 1 Timothy 3:4-5, 1 Timothy 5:8).  And yet Jesus also says, "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple."  At one point, as my friend was reading these things for herself, she said in a rather perplexed and frustrated tone, "Jesus seems kind of possessive."  I said the only thing I could say, "Yes, he is." 

I went on, "But He's God, and He made everything and owns everything, so He's allowed to be. When people are possessive, it's usually a bad thing, right?  But that's because when people are being possessive, they are usually trying to be God, when they're not. People try to be God so they can get what they want, for their own glory, at the expense of other people.  God, on the other hand, uses His Godness for His own glory, too.  But because He actually IS God, His own glory is actually good for us. He uses His Godness to glorify Himself by showing us mercy, giving us life, healing us, and sustaining us."

It is always good for me to think about these things.  The possessiveness of God is what drives most of us away from God...we can't stand the thought of having a Master. What we don't realize is that we always have a master of some kind.  We're always serving something, as others have said, the question is what. Am I going to serve myself, a cruel, fickle master that is never satisfied and whose labor only ends up in death? Or am I going to submit to Jesus, the only Good Master, the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep and promises abundant life to all who lay down theirs?