Luke 14:26-33
"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sister, yes , and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish' … So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple."
The first thing a wise man does before starting to build a house is to sit down and count all his costs. He carefully calculates how much each part of this job will cost him. But the foolish man jumps into his ambitions without knowing what it might in tale, and many a times, finds that he cannot complete his goal for a lack of funds. In the same way, Jesus is telling us in this passage that we are to carefully look at the cost of Christianity, to observe the high price of following Christ, before we say that we are committed to Him.
Now, at first, this verse may sound a bit strange, and immediately raises the question “Is Jesus telling us to hate our families?” Let me assure you, hatred is definitely not the focus in this verse. What Jesus is trying to say here is that our love for God has to so outrank our love for men, that our love for even our very own family members looks like hatred when compared to our love for God. In other words, we are called to be so devoted to God, that in contrast, our devotion to men (however large it may be) looks minuscule. God demands here total absolute focus on Christ.
When you live this kind of a life, denying yourself for the sake of fixing our eyes on God, there will be persecution. People will revile and mock you, family members will think that you’re crazy, even your closest friends may abandon you because of your dedication to Jesus Christ. This kind of life, based on self sacrifice is the cost that Jesus is talking about in this verse, and it is a high cost indeed, but it is the cost of discipleship. Salvation is totally free, offered to all who will accept it, but discipleship and closeness with God come at a high price. So be as the wise man, and count the cost of Christianity, do not start building your tower only to find that you cannot complete it.
"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sister, yes , and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish' … So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple."
The first thing a wise man does before starting to build a house is to sit down and count all his costs. He carefully calculates how much each part of this job will cost him. But the foolish man jumps into his ambitions without knowing what it might in tale, and many a times, finds that he cannot complete his goal for a lack of funds. In the same way, Jesus is telling us in this passage that we are to carefully look at the cost of Christianity, to observe the high price of following Christ, before we say that we are committed to Him.
Now, at first, this verse may sound a bit strange, and immediately raises the question “Is Jesus telling us to hate our families?” Let me assure you, hatred is definitely not the focus in this verse. What Jesus is trying to say here is that our love for God has to so outrank our love for men, that our love for even our very own family members looks like hatred when compared to our love for God. In other words, we are called to be so devoted to God, that in contrast, our devotion to men (however large it may be) looks minuscule. God demands here total absolute focus on Christ.
When you live this kind of a life, denying yourself for the sake of fixing our eyes on God, there will be persecution. People will revile and mock you, family members will think that you’re crazy, even your closest friends may abandon you because of your dedication to Jesus Christ. This kind of life, based on self sacrifice is the cost that Jesus is talking about in this verse, and it is a high cost indeed, but it is the cost of discipleship. Salvation is totally free, offered to all who will accept it, but discipleship and closeness with God come at a high price. So be as the wise man, and count the cost of Christianity, do not start building your tower only to find that you cannot complete it.