35 Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, 36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law? 37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment.
39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. Reference Matthew 22:35-40
When Jesus was asked about the greatest commandment, he picked loving God as the greatest commandment and loving your neighbor as the second greatest. Therefore, Jesus made loving your neighbor second to loving God.
In the context of Matthew 22:39, a neighbor could be your friends, classmates, both nuclear and extended family members such as wife, children, parents, etc. Hence, as a Christian, you have to love God more than your family.
Other Bible verses that is about loving God more than family
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 (Matthew 10:37).
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 (Luke 14:26).
Bible examples of loving God more than family
The truth is that those great men of God whom we admire and whose names are well praised proved to love God more than anything – more than their families, friends, and other loved ones. Examples:
Abraham loves God more than his family
A long time ago, a man who goes by the name Abraham lived with his family in Haran. They were wealthy and life was just fine for them. Then one day, God told him, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. Then Abraham just obeyed and left; where exactly he was going, he had no idea. What Abraham did proved that his faith in God and his loyalty and love for God supersede the love he had for his family, his father’s house.
Abraham spent years living like a nomad in the land of Canaan. Worse yet, he had no son to succeed him after his death for his beloved wife Sarah was barren. At the age of 100, while Sarah was 90 years old, he gave birth to the promised son Isaac. Of course, Isaac was dearly loved by both parents. However, when Isaac was a teenager, God commanded Abraham to sacrifice Isaac to Him.
The expectation was that Abraham should have been very devastated and troubled and should have told his beloved wife about it. In fact, if Abraham had told Sarah that God wanted him to sacrifice Isaac, Sarah would have done everything in her power to prevent him from sacrificing Isaac. But Abraham hid everything from his beloved wife so as to prevent her from attempting to stop him from doing what God had commanded him to do.
Also, Abraham did not disclose what God had asked him to do to any of his servants or slaves who were also part of his family. Not even the two servants whom he took along to help him do the sacrifice knew exactly what he was going to do. If they knew, they would have done everything to prevent him. Abraham did everything possible to prevent anyone from getting in his way in order to do what God had told him to do.
At last, God withheld Abraham from sacrificing Isaac and had a ram sacrificed in his stead. And God swore to bless Abraham. What Abraham did; the fact that he denied Sarah from knowing what the Lord had commanded him to do and the fact that he denied any member of his family from knowing it means that he was so determined to please God above all. He put God first and made his family second to God. Hence, he proved to love God more than his family. (Reference: Genesis 22:1-19)
Job loves God more than his family
Over the years, many people have disappointed God so much in that they made Him second to their career and their families. However, there came a man who went by the name Job. This man feared God and was upright. And he was exceedingly prosperous. And the hand of the Lord was upon all that he had.
As usual, the devil was jealous of him and anxiously sought his downfall, but the protection of the Lord prevented him from harming Job. Then, to prove a point to the devil that Job was very faithful, the Lord removed His protection from Job, giving the devil a chance to hurt him.
The devil pounced on Job. In one day, Job lost everything he had – his children, all his livestock, etc. And when Job was told about the death of all his children and the loss of his property, he only arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped God. He did not become angry with God and speak against him as expected. So we see here that Job regards God more than his property and family.
Though Job was in a pathetic state in which it appeared God had disappointed him, he did not abandon the Lord nor speak any foul word against Him. However, at the height of the bad times Job was facing, his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die.” But Job said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.
Job rebuked his wife and brushed away her evil advice and bad influence and honored God. Today, he is remembered as one who proved to love God more than his wife; one who proved to love God more than his family and property; one who made his family second to God. (Reference: Job 2:9-10)
King Asa loves God more than his family
Asa was the third king of Judah after Rehoboam and Abijah. He was a good king for he served the Lord; unlike his father and grandfather who were idolatrous. He put away the male cult prostitutes out of the land and removed all the idols that his fathers had made.
Nothing was said about his real mother. The woman Maacah who appeared to be his mother was, actually, his grandmother. Maachah was married to King Rehoboam, the son of King Solomon (2Ch 11:21). She was also the mother of King Abijah the son of King Rehoboam (2Ch 11:22). She outlived her husband and her son into the reign of her grandson, King Asa. During the reign of King Asa, King Asa loved Maachah so much, and took her for his mother, and made her the queen mother of Judah, and she was revered as such throughout the land.
However, Maacah did not fear the Lord; she perpetuated idol worship and her faith conflicted with that of her grandson whose heart was loyal to God. King Asa proved that he loved God more than his family when he removed his grandmother Maacah from her position as queen mother because she had made an abominable image for the pagan deity Asherah. In addition, King Asa destroyed the image and burnt it down in the Kidron Valley. 2 Chronicles 15:16
The twelve disciples of Jesus love God more than their families
Proving to love God more than your family does not necessarily mean you should leave your family or home in order to do God’s work. This is because managing your family well is part of the things God expects Christians to do. However, during the days of Jesus’ ministry and the early days of Christianity, it became necessary for disciples of Jesus to abandon their homes and their families in other to commit themselves wholly to God’s work. Notably, the twelve disciples of Jesus and later, Paul, Barnabas, John Mark, Silas, Luke, etc. left everything to follow Jesus, do God’s work, propagate the gospel, and make Christianity spread and grow. Examples:
James and John, the sons of Zebedee
One day, Jesus was walking on the shore of the lake, after having called Peter and Andrew, He continued His walk. Then He saw these two brothers, James and John, and their father Zebedee in a boat. As part of their fishing job, they were mending their net. In the course of mending their net with their father, James and John were called by Jesus to become His followers. Immediately, they left the fishing net, and the mending work they were doing, and the boat, and their career, and their father Zebedee to follow Jesus for good.
These brothers made their career and family second to Jesus. Hence they loved God and the work of God more than their family – father, mother, etc. ((Reference: Matthew 4:21-22). Also Mark 1:17.
Peter
Among the disciples of Jesus, Peter was known to have a wife. Also, it appears he was living in the same house with both his wife and his mother-in-law. At some point, Jesus visited Peter’s house and met his family. Peter abandoned his home and his family to follow Jesus for good. By so doing, he proved to love God and the work of God more than his family. No wonder he mustered the courage to ask Jesus, saying, “See, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have? (ESV)” (Matthew 19:27; Luke 18:28)
The rest of the twelve disciples
Like Peter, James, and John, every one of the rest of the twelve disciples left his family, home, and career to follow Jesus. And by so doing, they proved that they love God more than their families.
The twelve disciples of Jesus were like missionaries who have abandoned their families to travel far away to do the work of God. Though these men were within the borders of Israel, they have left their wives, their families, their careers, etc., and were following Jesus day by day. This is proof that they have made their families second to God or they loved God more than their families.