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The Cost of Following Jesus Christ
Luke 14:25-33 (ESV)
"25. Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, 26. “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. 27. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. 28. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?
29. Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30. saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31. Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32. And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. 33. So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple."
There are three things to evaluate when you want to pay the price of discipleship:
1. Unbending obedience:
Matthew 10:34-36 (KJV)
"[34]. Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. [35]. 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. [36]. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household."
Sometimes it would look like the Lord is out for you, to shred you to pieces. Sometimes you get so exhausted, even in the place of prayer, but you can't leave. Your body feels broken, your nerves feel like they have been cut.
Sometimes you are pushed to the wall, to make certain decisions that don't seem like the wisest steps to take. Sometimes you are figuratively asked to jump off a cliff, to walk into death, like when the Lord asked Peter to come to Him on water. But you must obey.
If you want to obtain an excellent report with the Lord Jesus, you must learn unnerving obedience. It would look like you are losing your own life, but you have to obey.
On campus, I abstained from relationships. I never let anyone come close until I met a certain gentleman. He fought so hard for me; he broke all my walls. When he had my heart, the Lord told me to leave the relationship, that he would be the death of me. The Lord told me he would be a hindrance to me and that he couldn't protect me spiritually or physically. I thought it was the most impossible thing I'd ever have to do. I died, but the Lord who gave me the instruction brought me back, and He helped me live without him.
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