Come to Jesus fully armed and without distraction! Today I’m splitting the Gospel into parts and sharing thoughts after each part.

luke 14:25-33

Great crowds were traveling with him, and he turned and addressed them. “If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

what do you mean?

Do I think Jesus really wants us to hate our family and our life? Absolutely not! What I think he’s getting at is a renunciation of what we identify with. Sometimes we can over-identify with our family, our nationality, our religion, our intelligence and even our career. When we over-identify with any of those things, we view everything outside our group as other. This leaves very little room for Jesus who calls us to oneness.

finish strong

“Which of you wishing to construct a tower does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if there is enough for it’s completion? Otherwise, after laying the foundation and finding himself unable to finish the work the onlookers should laugh at him and way, ‘this one began to build but did not have the resources to finish.’“

Jesus sure does have a way with words! I took these words as a warning for us not to take discipleship lightly. Jesus wants us to really think about what it takes to be a disciple. He wants us to work at having the necessary tools to follow Him obediently and whole-heartedly. We make a mockery of discipleship when we don’t practice what we preach.

When it comes to starting new things, we start strong. Conversion and choosing to follow Christ is no different. But familiarity breeds contempt and soon enough our fire fades. Jesus is telling us here that we need to start strong and finish strong!

If someone were watching you at this moment in your life in the hopes of deciding whether or not to become a disciple, would they take the leap? Do you think they would say to themselves, “I want what that person has?”

fully armed

“Or what king marching into battle would not first sit down and decide whether with ten thousand troops he can successfully oppose another king advancing upon him with twenty thousand troops? But if not, while he is still far away, he will send a delegation to ask for peace terms.“

Do we have what it takes to overcome temptation? That’s what I think this verse is about. We must be fully armed. Ephesians 6:10-18 reads, in part:

Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place,  and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.  In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.  Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.

I read something once that said, “be the kind of woman that when your feet hit the floor each morning the devil says ‘Oh crap, she’s up.’ THAT’S what this verse is all about!

last but not least

In the same way, everyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.

This is not about giving up all you have. I believe this is about detaching from those things in your life that take your attention away from the one who loves you. Do you find yourself watching hours of television and not having enough time to ponder Scripture? Does your fascination with social media keep you from sitting in silence? Is focusing on your body image more important than focusing on your soul image? I think you get where I’m going.

Being a disciple requires us to be counter-cultural. THAT is the cross Jesus talks about in this Gospel.

So today I ponder what I need to detach from and what I over-identify with. Do I really have what it takes to be an obedient, whole-hearted disciple? Do I exhibit the characteristics necessary to be a true witness? Am I well equipped for spiritual warfare? Do I have what it takes to finish strong? You?

God bless you!