Count the Cost of Discipleship
In today’s Bible reading* Jesus reminds us to count the cost of following Him. It seems to be a recurring theme. I’ve said it many times, if you see words or a concept repeated in the Bible, it’s probably pretty important and you need to take note of it!
Jesus begins this section with a figure of speech called hyperbole. Hyperbole is an exaggeration that’s not intended to be taken literally.[1] Jesus uses it to compare how much His disciples must be willing to give up to follow Him. A few days ago, Jesus’ invitation to follow Him was met with, “Ok, but first I need to ….” (We’ll see it in tomorrow’s readings, too)
No, Jesus told us to put His Kingdom and His righteousness first. (Matthew 6:33; Luke 12:31)
First.
Remember when Jesus called Peter, James, and John after their monster fish catch. No, they didn’t catch a monster fish. They had a monstrous catch of fish. (See my devotional on Luke 5) Instead of taking two boatloads of fish to the market, they left the fish. They left the nets. They left the boats. Compared to the value of following Jesus, nothing was of any value. (Philippians 3:8)
When you think about it, based on the very definition of the word, it’s impossible to say, “No, Lord.” If He is truly Lord, you have to say, “Yes”. If you say, “No”, then He isn’t truly Lord. Everything that Jesus says about following Him emphatically states or implies that if someone wants to follow Him, He must be seen as “Lord“. There is no other option!
Application
Oftentimes, I have heard people say something like, “I accepted Jesus as my Savior when I was x years old. But I accepted Jesus as my Lord when I was y years old.” A few days ago, I referred to a comment one of my seminary professors made about knowing Jesus as Savior and then later knowing Jesus as Lord: You can come to Jesus as Savior and later come to know Him more as Lord, but you cannot come to Jesus as Savior and reject Him as Lord.
How about you? Do you know Jesus as your Lord? Or do you know Him merely as Savior so you can have “Fire Insurance” (so you can go to heaven when you die)?
Uhm… I’ve read through the Book a few times, and I’ve never seen anything about the concept of having “fire insurance”. You either come to Him on His terms, or you don’t come to Him at all.
[1] Source: Dictionary.Com
This devotional is edited from one originally published on July 13, 2019.
* Chapters covered in today’s reading:
Luke 12
Luke 13:1-30