being a 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.

I don't believe Jesus is advocating we hate our parents, spouses, children, bros, sisters, or ourselves.

I believe what He's saying is they must become our secondary concern.

How many of us know people (or maybe this applies to us too!) who aren't who they are or do what they need to do because they are more concerned about the opinions of the authenticators in their lives?

How many of us put the wants & needs of those people Jesus mentioned above what God wants us to be or do?

iow, we must listen to God, first & foremost of all – He is our top priority. Everyone else is second in line.

I know this is a very uncomfortable concept for some – all I know is all I know.

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  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.

How many of us just leap into something, higgledy-piggledy, & don't think it through?

How many of us (me especially) just said, “We're just gonna trust the Lord” when what we REALLY need to say is, “I'm to lazy to think this thing through & we're just gonna let the Lord bail our butts out of this one.”?

Now, I'm not saying we should over analyze what God is leading us to be or do, but neither am I suggestion we should just always enter into a situation or project “Let the Spirit move”.

It seems to me sometimes, lots of the time, what we're saying with “Let the Spirit move” is that we just are too lazy, stubborn, or immature to this a situation out.

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This is a pretty straightforward verse – but let's see how some different translations handle it.

33 So you cannot become my disciple without giving up everything you own. (NLT)

So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not [carefully consider the cost and then for My sake] give up all his own possessions (Amplified)

You must leave everything you have to follow me. If not, you cannot be my follower. (ERV)

So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple. (ESV)

only the man who says goodbye to all his possessions can be my disciple. (J B Phillips)

Simply put, if you’re not willing to take what is dearest to you, whether plans or people, and kiss it good-bye, you can’t be my disciple. (The Message)

those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples. (NIV)

if you want to be My disciple, it will cost you everything. Don’t underestimate that cost! (The Voice)

They all say the same thing, with a few differently used words, maybe with a slightly different slant.

The bottom line?

To follow Jesus, we have to let go of our lives – everything - & trust God with our lives as well as showing us what to be & what to do.

And let go of ANY expectations – we are at His disposal

What do we get if we do?

The life He dreamed for us a gajillion years ago – a life FAR MORE epic than one we can imagine, or could have come up with in our own.