SCRIPTURES:
A large crowd was following Jesus. He turned around and said to them, “If you want to be my disciple, you must, by comparison, hate everyone else - your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters - yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple. And if you do not carry your own cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple.
“But don’t begin until you count the cost. For who would begin construction of a building without first calculating the cost to see if there is enough money to finish it? Otherwise, you might complete only the foundation before running out of money, and then everyone would laugh at you. They would say, ‘There’s the person who started that building and couldn’t afford to finish it!’
“Or what king would go to war against another king without first sitting down with his counselors to discuss whether his army of 10,000 could defeat the 20,000 soldiers marching against him? And if he can’t, he will send a delegation to discuss terms of peace while the enemy is still far away. So you cannot become my disciple without giving up everything you own.
DEVOTIONAL:
Jesus doesn’t recruit fans - He forms disciples. And discipleship has a cost.
Not because God is harsh, but because slavery to self is lethal. Counting the cost isn’t a lack of faith. It’s clarity. It’s saying, “If I follow Jesus, some habits must die. Some relationships may shift. My schedule will change. My money will obey. My body will submit. My mouth will be disciplined.”
Vision without cost becomes fantasy. But when you embrace the cost,
grace shows up with strength.
QUESTIONS:
1. What is Jesus asking me to surrender that I keep renegotiating?
2. What comfort is competing with obedience?
3. What does “take up my cross” look like today - not someday?
PRAYER:
Jesus, You are worth it. I surrender what I’ve been clutching. Make me a
disciple, not a spectator. Amen.
FASTING FOCUS:
Fast comfort: do the hard, obedient thing you’ve delayed.