Verse of the day: Luke 9:57 Now it happened as they journeyed on the road, that someone said to Him, “Lord, I will follow You
wherever You go.”
Many of
us can remember the excitement we felt when we first called upon Jesus by faith
and received eternal life. We made a commitment to serve Him and follow Him; oftentimes
that excitement drove us with a desire to tell everyone we know about Jesus and
how to receive eternal life. Many wanted to serve in the local church, go into
ministry and even go out on the mission field. However, something happened
along the way that diminished our desire. People were not really all that
receptive to hearing us talk about Jesus and the Gospel message. As a matter of
fact, some were just outright rude in communicating that to us. Our desire to
serve within the local church was great until the “honeymoon” period passed and
it became a challenge, and sacrificial work. Going into the ministry, to
include the mission field, requires great sacrifice that affects not only us,
but our families as well. As the cheers and accolades fade from those who
praised God for saving us, and praised us for our dedication, so does our fervor
in making a commitment to serve. Suddenly it does not seem like the greatest
idea we have had, and we slowly fade into the woodwork to become “pew warmers”.
We see from this passage that there is a cost to following Jesus. There will be
sacrifices that will need to be made is we truly want to follow Him wherever He
leads us. In John 1:37-39, the disciples question Jesus as to where He stays,
and His answer to them is, “Come and see”. He does not go into some elaborate
explanation, and simply tells them to follow Him. If we are to follow Jesus, we
need to do it by faith, but we are also to be wise and count the cost of what
it means to follow Jesus. In Luke 14:25-33, Jesus explains that in order to
follow Him we must take up our cross daily. However, He also explained that if
we are not careful to count the cost of following Him we will ultimately end up
looking foolish and unwise as one who sets out to build a tower but fails to make
sure he has the resources and ends up having to abandon the project; or the
king who goes out to war, but then realizes that he does not have enough men to
meet his opponent. It is unwise and foolish of us if we do not first count the
cost of following Jesus before we set out to make commitments to serve Him. In
this passage, Luke records the excuses made by those who both volunteered or
were asked to follow Jesus. Each one used members of their families as excuses
for not following Jesus; yet, it is their families that would benefit most from
their commitment to follow the Lord. Our commitment and service to the Lord is
a great example to set for our families to follow; yet, many will use their
family as an excuse not to follow. In order to avoid conflict with a spouse or
we want our children to be able to play some sport that requires that they
attend practices or games that have conflicting schedules with our corporate
worship or service times. The end result is that our commitment to God takes a
back seat to the busyness of our lives. The devils are good at keeping us
occupied with things that are not sinful to do, but later become like idols in
our lives, and take us away from our ability or desire to serve and follow
Jesus. In the end, I have seen many families who gave in to these things, only
to later complain that their children have no interest in seeking the Lord; or families
as a whole are no longer in regular attendance or service in their local
churches. Little do we realize how much that is affecting the spread of the
Gospel and how much it is affecting society as more and more people are having
less and less interest in anything that pertains to God, serving Him, or
following Him. We can blame no one but ourselves. The bottom line is that
serving and following Jesus is going to cost us something. Before we make a
commitment to being His disciples we must realistically evaluate what it is
going to take to follow Jesus and take up our cross daily. God made a
commitment to us, and it was one that cost Him His Son. Jesus obediently
committed His life and laid it down to purchase our salvation. Let us stop
making half-hearted commitments. We, as God’s children, must realize that it is
not enough to commit our lives to the Lord; we must count the cost and then
surrender our lives to serve Him and be used by Him for His purposes. It was
for this cause that He saved us, so that we will be separated unto Him for His
service; to do whatever He requires of us.
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