No Turning Back!
Being a disciple of Christ takes a clear determination based on the conviction that you are doing the best thing with your life and that is to become more and more Christ like every single day.
What does it mean to answer the call to be a disciple of Christ? Let's look at some Scriptures in which Jesus Himself gives the answer. In Matthew 10:37-39 and Luke 14:25-33 Jesus gives the warning that those who would be His disciples need to make some serious choices. He says that whoever will be His disciple must take up His cross and follow Him. Part of the taking up the cross is choosing to turn your back on your old life. In verse 39 Jesus plainly states that he must be willing to "lose his life."
Luke 14 often causes a lot of controversy since at first glance it appears Jesus is actually telling you to "hate" your family in order to follow Him. Since this goes directly against His teaching to love one another, there must be another explanation. When we look at the sister passage in Matthew 10, we see Jesus gives a comparison. "He who loves father or mother more than me, is not worthy of ME." Christ is not saying that you must literally "hate" everything or everyone else to be His disciple. Actually, when you become His disciple, you find a new love for others around you that you never knew. He is using an expression here to stress that if you want to be His disciple you must make some very serious, difficult decisions. You must be so dedicated to serving the Lord that you are willing to leave everything behind. Often other people, especially your family, will try to make you feel guilty using phrases like "You love God more than you love us," to which you must simply reply, "Yes I do." Some might even accuse you of hating your family and your old life. In fact, you don't hate them, but in comparison to your love and dedication to serve the Lord, it might appear that way.
In Luke 9 we see three separate examples of people who say they want to follow Christ, but they all have an excuse as to why they cannot do it now. Jesus responds to each telling them that they must be willing to leave all these excuses behind if they honestly want to be His disciples. The first man says that he will follow Jesus anywhere, but Christ warns him that he won't always have a comfortable place to stay. The second man asks to be allowed to go bury his father, but Jesus responds to leave the dead alone and go preach the Gospel. In the third case, we see a man who simply wants to say goodbye to his family. It is here that Jesus says, "No man, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is worthy of the kingdom of God." In each one of these examples we can see that Christ is saying once you choose to follow Him, you cannot look longingly back to any of the comforts or past relationships.
Not every time we chose to follow Christ are we required to leave everything, but that is exactly what you must be ready to do. All your effort must go into following Him. Luke 14 uses the example of a man who begins to build a building, and because he did not count the cost ahead of time, he was not ready for how much it would cost him and he could not finish. Everyone around him then had the opportunity to laugh at him and see how foolish he was. Christ's goal in giving these passages is not to be mean, but to be completely serious and upfront on what is required to be a disciple. It is like saying, "Look, this is what is going to cost you. You must be willing to lose all this. You must know what the cost is going to be before you start down this road." He doesn't want a bunch of washy soldiers following Him, who, when things get hard, retreat and go home.
Christ does not want you to fail in being His disciple. He wants you to able to be like Paul and say, "I have fought the good fight; I have kept the faith. Therefore there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness." He wants you to succeed; it is your choice if you want to accept those stipulations that will help you succeed.
Luke 14 often causes a lot of controversy since at first glance it appears Jesus is actually telling you to "hate" your family in order to follow Him. Since this goes directly against His teaching to love one another, there must be another explanation. When we look at the sister passage in Matthew 10, we see Jesus gives a comparison. "He who loves father or mother more than me, is not worthy of ME." Christ is not saying that you must literally "hate" everything or everyone else to be His disciple. Actually, when you become His disciple, you find a new love for others around you that you never knew. He is using an expression here to stress that if you want to be His disciple you must make some very serious, difficult decisions. You must be so dedicated to serving the Lord that you are willing to leave everything behind. Often other people, especially your family, will try to make you feel guilty using phrases like "You love God more than you love us," to which you must simply reply, "Yes I do." Some might even accuse you of hating your family and your old life. In fact, you don't hate them, but in comparison to your love and dedication to serve the Lord, it might appear that way.
In Luke 9 we see three separate examples of people who say they want to follow Christ, but they all have an excuse as to why they cannot do it now. Jesus responds to each telling them that they must be willing to leave all these excuses behind if they honestly want to be His disciples. The first man says that he will follow Jesus anywhere, but Christ warns him that he won't always have a comfortable place to stay. The second man asks to be allowed to go bury his father, but Jesus responds to leave the dead alone and go preach the Gospel. In the third case, we see a man who simply wants to say goodbye to his family. It is here that Jesus says, "No man, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is worthy of the kingdom of God." In each one of these examples we can see that Christ is saying once you choose to follow Him, you cannot look longingly back to any of the comforts or past relationships.
Not every time we chose to follow Christ are we required to leave everything, but that is exactly what you must be ready to do. All your effort must go into following Him. Luke 14 uses the example of a man who begins to build a building, and because he did not count the cost ahead of time, he was not ready for how much it would cost him and he could not finish. Everyone around him then had the opportunity to laugh at him and see how foolish he was. Christ's goal in giving these passages is not to be mean, but to be completely serious and upfront on what is required to be a disciple. It is like saying, "Look, this is what is going to cost you. You must be willing to lose all this. You must know what the cost is going to be before you start down this road." He doesn't want a bunch of washy soldiers following Him, who, when things get hard, retreat and go home.
Christ does not want you to fail in being His disciple. He wants you to able to be like Paul and say, "I have fought the good fight; I have kept the faith. Therefore there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness." He wants you to succeed; it is your choice if you want to accept those stipulations that will help you succeed.
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