I have been reading in Philippians lately, but at our weekly team meeting today, Jeff was reading from Luke 9:57-62. I read that passage over and over today because it stuck with me all day.
Luke 9
57 As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” 58 Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” 59 He said to another man, “Follow me.” But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” 60 Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” 61 Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.” 62 Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”
57 As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” 58 Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” 59 He said to another man, “Follow me.” But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” 60 Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” 61 Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.” 62 Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”
And the passage following this is when Jesus sends out the seventy-two in pairs ahead to prepare for Him visiting the towns. This is when He tells them that the harvest because the workers are few, yet the harvest is plentiful.
In both of these passages, Jesus outlines, in different ways, the costs of following Him. Sometimes, it's eating something that you don't want to, sometimes it's it's leaving your family and everything you have known to follow His call. In the verses I called out above, He tells three different men to follow Him, and each one comes up with a different excuse about why he can't follow Jesus right when Jesus calls him. Jesus even calls the last man to leave his family without saying goodbye.
So all these things are good to know, but what do they mean to me living in another culture, another century, another country? For me, they point out those times in my life when I have ignored the call of the Lord for things I thought more important. How can I assume that those petty things in my life that I cling to are more important than what the Creator has called me to do? Why should I put my life and the things I want before the lives of other than I am called to witness to about the Gospel? As a follower of Christ, I should be selflessly putting others ahead of myself as Christ called me to do. If Jesus called one of those men to leave his family without even saying goodbye, what then will He call me to do to follow Him?
Then I began to look back over my life and think about times when I felt called or led to do something and what held me back. Sometimes it was pride, sometimes it was stubbornness, sometimes it was inconsequential things I put before His calling - whatever it was, it drew me away from obedience. As I remembered those times, I realized what the root problem was.
Cost.
Was I just not willing to do whatever it took to follow the Lord? Were the silly little things I childishly hoarded more important than an all-knowing, all-important God's call? What pride and narcissism this simple creation has! How can I, as a follower of Christ, put myself above all who have not yet had the precious chance to hear the Gospel? The answer?
Cost.
I counted the cost of following Him and rejected it as too much for me. But I cannot continue to call myself a true follower of Christ and all His teachings and reject the cost to follow Him. Like in my last post, everything. My hopes, my dreams, my wishes, my wants, my faults, my sins, my triumphs, my fails, my aspirations, and yes, even those things I don't even realize I need or want. His cost is everything.
Not only must I pray and petition Him about everything, I must also give everything up to follow Him with all that I am and all that I have. Though it will not be easy, and though it will not always be all that I want right then, I still trust that His cost is more than worth it. I will still trust that His cost is worth my everything.
Because I call myself His follower, I am compelled to live my life on this earth to share His Gospel and become more like Him. I do not have privileges. I do not deserve my own life. I do not have the luxury of choosing everything I do with my life. Why? Because He requires everything from me as the cost of following Him. And why do I agree with this cost now? Two reasons. Because He requires it of me. And because all that He desires for me is even above those things I want for myself. Psalms 37:4 says, "Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart." So His cost is my everything, but the gain is growing closer to Him and He gives me the desires of my heart, which are the desires of His heart because I pray and petition Him for everything.
Is God not an amazing God? He can ask me for everything and still give me nothing, yet He gives me everything I could possibly need or want! How could I not give up everything to follow Him? It is because I am too selfish to give everything to Him. So, like I resolved to give him everything, I have resolved to not count the cost as too high, for my God is infinitely worthy of everything that I could give up, even my life. He deserves all of my everything. Even in Luke 14: 25-34, He requires the same thing.
25 Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: 26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. 27 And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. 28 “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? 29 For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, 30 saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn't able to finish.’ 31 “Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? 32 If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. 33 In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples. 34 “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? 35 It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out. “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”
Did you see that in verse 33? "In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples." He said everything. I count everything in my life as forfeit for His cause because He is worthy of it all, and it all belongs to Him. My life exists as a tool that He chooses to use to further His kingdom when I give Him everything. I exist for His glory. How awesome is my God that He uses a broken vessel such as me for the glory of His name! Though the cost may seem high, His kingdom is worth far more than my life and the petty things I hold onto for my sinful flesh's sake.
So, I will give Him everything, for His glory and His name. I hope that you will do the same, for He is infinitely worthy of our everything, no matter what the cost is to us.
In both of these passages, Jesus outlines, in different ways, the costs of following Him. Sometimes, it's eating something that you don't want to, sometimes it's it's leaving your family and everything you have known to follow His call. In the verses I called out above, He tells three different men to follow Him, and each one comes up with a different excuse about why he can't follow Jesus right when Jesus calls him. Jesus even calls the last man to leave his family without saying goodbye.
So all these things are good to know, but what do they mean to me living in another culture, another century, another country? For me, they point out those times in my life when I have ignored the call of the Lord for things I thought more important. How can I assume that those petty things in my life that I cling to are more important than what the Creator has called me to do? Why should I put my life and the things I want before the lives of other than I am called to witness to about the Gospel? As a follower of Christ, I should be selflessly putting others ahead of myself as Christ called me to do. If Jesus called one of those men to leave his family without even saying goodbye, what then will He call me to do to follow Him?
Then I began to look back over my life and think about times when I felt called or led to do something and what held me back. Sometimes it was pride, sometimes it was stubbornness, sometimes it was inconsequential things I put before His calling - whatever it was, it drew me away from obedience. As I remembered those times, I realized what the root problem was.
Cost.
Was I just not willing to do whatever it took to follow the Lord? Were the silly little things I childishly hoarded more important than an all-knowing, all-important God's call? What pride and narcissism this simple creation has! How can I, as a follower of Christ, put myself above all who have not yet had the precious chance to hear the Gospel? The answer?
Cost.
I counted the cost of following Him and rejected it as too much for me. But I cannot continue to call myself a true follower of Christ and all His teachings and reject the cost to follow Him. Like in my last post, everything. My hopes, my dreams, my wishes, my wants, my faults, my sins, my triumphs, my fails, my aspirations, and yes, even those things I don't even realize I need or want. His cost is everything.
Not only must I pray and petition Him about everything, I must also give everything up to follow Him with all that I am and all that I have. Though it will not be easy, and though it will not always be all that I want right then, I still trust that His cost is more than worth it. I will still trust that His cost is worth my everything.
Because I call myself His follower, I am compelled to live my life on this earth to share His Gospel and become more like Him. I do not have privileges. I do not deserve my own life. I do not have the luxury of choosing everything I do with my life. Why? Because He requires everything from me as the cost of following Him. And why do I agree with this cost now? Two reasons. Because He requires it of me. And because all that He desires for me is even above those things I want for myself. Psalms 37:4 says, "Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart." So His cost is my everything, but the gain is growing closer to Him and He gives me the desires of my heart, which are the desires of His heart because I pray and petition Him for everything.
Is God not an amazing God? He can ask me for everything and still give me nothing, yet He gives me everything I could possibly need or want! How could I not give up everything to follow Him? It is because I am too selfish to give everything to Him. So, like I resolved to give him everything, I have resolved to not count the cost as too high, for my God is infinitely worthy of everything that I could give up, even my life. He deserves all of my everything. Even in Luke 14: 25-34, He requires the same thing.
25 Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: 26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. 27 And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. 28 “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? 29 For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, 30 saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn't able to finish.’ 31 “Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? 32 If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. 33 In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples. 34 “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? 35 It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out. “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”
Did you see that in verse 33? "In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples." He said everything. I count everything in my life as forfeit for His cause because He is worthy of it all, and it all belongs to Him. My life exists as a tool that He chooses to use to further His kingdom when I give Him everything. I exist for His glory. How awesome is my God that He uses a broken vessel such as me for the glory of His name! Though the cost may seem high, His kingdom is worth far more than my life and the petty things I hold onto for my sinful flesh's sake.
So, I will give Him everything, for His glory and His name. I hope that you will do the same, for He is infinitely worthy of our everything, no matter what the cost is to us.
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