Luke 14:25-33
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.
Following Jesus is not easy. It costs everything we have. Jesus starts out by saying that "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" (verse 26). The point is not that Jesus is anti-family, but that anything that gets in the way of following Jesus is a hindrance, even if it is a good thing otherwise. He follows this with some parables about the need to plan and consider the cost of what we are doing, and then says: "therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple" (verse 33). Recovery, like discipleship, has a cost. It is easy to say we want to do something, but to move beyond words to action requires a cost. We have to be willing to make it the first priority in our lives, to be willing to give up everything to gain recovery and be His disciple. Only then can we be sure of success.
Lord, I am scared by your call to give up everything. But I need You more than anything else. So help me to be willing to give up everything to follow You.
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.
Following Jesus is not easy. It costs everything we have. Jesus starts out by saying that "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" (verse 26). The point is not that Jesus is anti-family, but that anything that gets in the way of following Jesus is a hindrance, even if it is a good thing otherwise. He follows this with some parables about the need to plan and consider the cost of what we are doing, and then says: "therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple" (verse 33). Recovery, like discipleship, has a cost. It is easy to say we want to do something, but to move beyond words to action requires a cost. We have to be willing to make it the first priority in our lives, to be willing to give up everything to gain recovery and be His disciple. Only then can we be sure of success.
Lord, I am scared by your call to give up everything. But I need You more than anything else. So help me to be willing to give up everything to follow You.