Fredoheaven that is an excellent question.

I think Forrest is correct,
it is a comparative statement and I like the way he phrased it...

"Our devotion and love for the Lord Jesus Christ should be so great and superior that compared to all others and even to our self it would be hatred."

I would have to disagree with Whirlwind, I do not see the word HATE as an ERROR, as I do not think we have errors in our inerrant Bible. So that means I have to adjust my thinking to the Word of God and accept is exactly as it is written. I think if a man chooses to truly follow Christ in discipleship, that man must reach a moment when his family, his father, his mother, his friends all become less than Christ. This is not an easy thing to do, but it allows our entire focus to be on Christ and at that moment Jesus becomes EVERYTHING. The entire world becomes NOTHING, least of all a friend.

This is a hard line to draw, but James challenges the sinners in his day by asking them...

"Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the ENEMY OF GOD."- James 4:4

Let's also remember that not all families and peer groups are supportive of Christianity. Many times young Christians will be openly attacked by family members and friends, who attempt to drag them back into the world and the patterns of flesh they came from. This can take many forms. For example, it could be an older brother, or perhaps a sister in law who is trying to force the new believer to smoke cigarettes and drink alchohol like the "old days." For a young woman, it could be an old boyfriend or lover who is trying to keep her out of church or Bible study for his own selfish reasons. It could be a family member who is wrapped up in the stench of Islam or maybe a cult like the Mormons or JW's, and hates the idea of their child taking a different path of doctrine.

But at that moment the disciple of Christ has to make a decision;
CHRIST OR OTHERS. This does not mean we are not to honor our parents, and it doesn't mean we are to seek trouble. But sooner or later we will have to make a decision to allow Christ to become the pinnacle in our life. At that moment your decision to stand for Christ can split your family wide open and CHALLENGE ANY RELATIONSHIP YOU HAVE ON EARTH. This can result in bad feelings, and I have seen men throwing furniture around, mothers screaming at sons, and sisters screaming about the new "Jesus freak." In many cases this trouble does not last, and the Christian is eventually accepted along with the new lifestyle adjustments, but it can get rough in the beginning. That's why Jesus said...

"Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law." - Matt. 10:34-35