COUNT THE COST (PART 2)

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com.
In Christ, Mark

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

** Become a Follower of The Christian Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“And whoever does not carry their cross and follow Me cannot be My disciple.”

Luke 14:27

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

What does it take to be a true disciple of Jesus?

We’re answering this question through following what our Savior said on the subject as He was addressing large crowds of people who were traveling with Him to Jerusalem.

In yesterday’s devotion, the first of this series on counting the cost of following Jesus, we found love at the center of the qualification, more specifically who we love the most in our life. Through His own words, Jesus made it clear that a true disciple of His would love Him above anyone else…above parents…above spouses and children…above siblings…and above oneself. A follower of Jesus needed to love Him more than anybody and anyone who considered being a disciple of Christ needed to count the cost of that decision.

Today, we move from the matter of love to the subject of commitment and we find Jesus answering the question:

What is the obligation one has to assume in order to be one of His disciples?

His response occupied only a single verse as we continue to look at this instruction contained in the 14th chapter of Luke:

“And whoever does not carry their cross and follow Me cannot be My disciple.” Luke 14:27

When Jesus is talking about the cross here, He is discussing it in reference to His commitment to all mankind and then in turn what He expects anyone who follows Him to commit to in return. Jesus was obedient to the will of His Father to be the Savior of the world and He was obedient to death. He accepted the commitment He was asked to fulfill and did so knowing it would end in extreme suffering and death. And ironically, He literally did carry His cross to Calvary and then was executed on it, willingly laying His life down so others might live and live forever.

Today, many disciples of Jesus have chosen to carry their cross for the good of helping others find salvation, even going as far to put themselves at great risk in doing so. It’s happening somewhere in the world right this very moment as someone is covertly working hard to share the Gospel, fully knowing that they would be killed if their proselytizing was discovered. Indeed, many pay the ultimate price for the cause of Jesus every day, willing to lay their lives down for others just as Jesus did. They counted the cost they had to pay and were willing to do it, ultimately finding their way to glory.

For the reality is that we are all going to die. It’s going to happen. We can’t avoid it.

But we can avoid doing things we think will bring us risk of death and often do. Wanting so much to hold onto every second of this earthly life, we will easily pass up or pass over opportunities that may present some form of danger, even doing things in the name of Jesus.

Ask yourself this, “How much of the world has never heard the good news of the Gospel?”

I think you would be surprised how many people have not been exposed to the name of Jesus in their lives. They are in need of hearing the good news so they might become followers of Jesus, the Jesus who called us to do the following:

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” Matthew 28:19-20

Note these demands of Christians by Jesus are not optional. He commands us to “go” and “make” and “baptize” and “teach” as we develop disciples in all nations. There aren’t any barriers or restrictions given. We are to get to work to carry out the Great Commission and do so by carrying our cross and obediently following Jesus, following His orders and following His example.

For indeed, we can only know how to pick up and carry our cross because He did it first to show us the sacrifice that is required for the cause of the Gospel. Jesus showed us the potential cost to be one of His disciples, a cost we need to count.

How will we respond to this message and calling? Will it just be business as usual with us remaining in our spiritual comfort zones? Or are we willing to do as Jesus did, boldly going forth in the face of extreme opposition and danger because the price that would be paid by not bringing people to salvation was greater than the life He was willing to trade for it.

Thanks be to God for the gift of His Son and the sacrifice He was willing to make to save us, even carrying His cross to where He would suffer and die for our sins, covering the cost that we should have paid.

That’s what Jesus was willing to do for us. He counted the cost and was willing to give it. Let’s unabashedly and unashamedly honor Him by having the same sense of devotion and dedication to those in need of salvation today.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com