Will We?

January 20

“Now great multitudes went with Him. And He turned and said to them, (26) "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. (27) And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. (28) For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it— (29) lest, after he has laid the 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?” Luke 14:25-30.

"Now it happened as they journeyed on the road, that someone said to Him, "Lord, I will follow You wherever You go." (58) And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head." (59) Then He said to another, "Follow Me." But he said, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father." (60) Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God." (61) And another also said, "Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house." (62) But Jesus said to him, "No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.," Luke 9:57-62.

The Lord’s requirements for membership in His ‘club’ sound very harsh and restrictive. Perhaps He means them to be, for He has also said, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it,” Matthew 7:13-14. Our Lord is not playing the game of ‘bait and switch.’

Jesus wants us to be fully aware of the agreement into which we enter when we place our lives at His feet. He wants us to know that although the gift of salvation is free, that HE has already paid the full price that redeems us from the penalty of our sin, there is a high premium placed upon the commitment of the one who decides to follow after Him.

He wants us to know that by comparison, our love for others must pale when placed beside our love for Him. He wants us to know we will endure a cross of our own if we follow Him. He wants us to count the cost before we commit ourselves to love Him, for He does not want us to be found wanting and ashamed in our resolve to follow Him.

He would not have us to enter relationship with Him without knowing we may not have a place to rest, that we may not have the opportunity to attend the requirements placed upon us by other relationships, that we may not even be indulged the saying of goodbye to those we love, for in looking back to any of our former life, once we have decided to follow Him, we render ourselves unworthy of the Kingdom of God.

How many of us have fully assessed His stipulations prior to committing ourselves to be followers of the Christ? How many of us understand how total is to be our separation from our former life—its desires, its achievements, its loves, its allures—all that Jesus may be the totality of our heart’s longing?

If we haven’t assessed the cost, if we aren’t following with complete understanding of the price that's required of us, will we be able to stand in the day of persecution? Will we be able to suffer any consequence because we have already weighed the cost of walking with Jesus and found it to be worth everything? Will we?