disciple =

Luke 14:25 A large crowd was following Jesus. He turned around and said to them,   26 “If you want to be my disciple, you must hate everyone else by comparison—your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple. 27 And if you do not carry your own cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple.

28 “But don’t begin until you count the cost. For who would begin construction of a building without first calculating the cost to see if there is enough money to finish it? 29 Otherwise, you might complete only the foundation before running out of money, and then everyone would laugh at you. 30 They would say, ‘There’s the person who started that building and couldn’t afford to finish it!’

31 “Or what king would go to war against another king without first sitting down with his counselors to discuss whether his army of 10,000 could defeat the 20,000 soldiers marching against him? 32 And if he can’t, he will send a delegation to discuss terms of peace while the enemy is still far away. 33 So no one can become my disciple without giving up everything for me.


We live in a time when middle class values have invaded the psyche of being a Christ follower. Our expectations tend to be that following Him will bring us prosperity, opportunity, & that our lives will be lived in comfort & blessing because we name Him as Savior.

And we have a tendency to gloss over the realities of following Jesus.

I've heard my friend & sister, Beth White,put it this way - "Salvation is free, but everything else costs us everything."

Iow, establishing a relationship is made possible by the life, death, & resurrection of Jesus. Access to that life is free for the asking, & given by God as freely.

But to follow Him, to allow Him to take all the sinful parts of us out of us & become more like Him will come about only if we surrender ourselves completely to Him. We can only live the life He dreamed for us if we surrender ourselves & our dreams to Him.

But we seldom do this, completely. We keep back some of our pet hurts, hangups, &/or sins. We remain in control.

How do I know this?

I've been livin' it, especially the last 12+ yrs.

God has put His finger on the hurts I've carried around in my for decades. He's addressed the hangups I continue to keep from letting Him release me from,& He will not let me rest until I admit to & repent of those special sins I allow in my life. He's unrelenting. It's very uncomfortable - well, truthfully, it hurts in unimaginable ways.

Why do I do it?

Because the life He's been giving me is FAR preferable to the one I dreamed up.

Have I become all that He wants & dreamed me to be? Not yet.

Am I becoming that person? I believe I am, but VERY slowly.

It's all about 1 thing,& one thing only...

Do I trust Him enough to let go of my life & let Him control it.

That's what it's all about for any of us.

Do we trust Him?

If we do, everything else lines up, everything else will slowly fall into place, we will end up being & doing  who He dreamed us to be & do.

And to become that will cost us everything we hold dear.

But it is worth it.