Luke 14:33: So therefore whoever of you who doesn’t renounce all that he has, he can’t be my disciple.
Jesus does not call anyone to be a part-time worker in His kingdom. The call to follow Christ is a call to give ourselves wholeheartedly to His service. It involves forsaking whatever is necessary in order to obey His commands.
In Luke 9:57, a man told Jesus he would follow Him wherever He went. Jesus responded in verse 58 by saying that “the Son of Man has no place to lay His head.”
Jesus did not want the man to be delusional about the cost of following Him. He does not want us to be either. Following Christ is a 24/7 lifestyle. It may involve giving up many earthly possessions (cf. Matt. 19:21). It may involve losing close friendships (cf. Luke 14:26). It may even involve facing physical persecution, as many of the 1st century Christians did (cf. Rev. 2:10). Being a disciple of Christ is not something to take lightly.
If we only see the temporal and material side of life, we may ask why someone would choose to live such a life. What could be worth forsaking so much?
The answer is living for Jesus, and being a part of His eternal kingdom.
Consider the parables of the kingdom in Matthew 13:44-46: Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found, and hid. In his joy, he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who is a merchant seeking fine pearls, who having found one pearl of great price, he went and sold all that he had, and bought it.
If we see the kingdom of heaven as the treasure that it is, we will be willing to give up whatever is needful to be a part of it.
Consider what the “cost of discipleship” was for Paul. He said “Five times from the Jews I received forty stripes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I suffered shipwrecked. I have been a night and a day the deep. I have been in travels often, perils of rivers, perils of robbers, perils from my countrymen, perils from the Gentiles, perils in the city, perils in the wilderness, perils in the sea, perils among false brothers; in labor and travail, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, and in cold and nakedness” (2 Cor. 11:24-27).
Paul’s physical body endured a lot of hardships. Yet, Paul was not discouraged. His outward man was decaying, but his inward man was renewed daily (2 Cor. 4:16). As Paul was suffering, he said “our light affliction, which is for the moment, works for us more and more exceedingly an eternal weight of glory; while we don’t look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal” (2 Cor. 4:17-18).
Paul called his suffering “light affliction.” Why? His mind was on the spiritual rather than the physical. He lived for the eternal rather than the temporal. Paul experienced joy and peace that was much deeper than anything this world could offer. This made hardships and persecutions seem light in his eyes.
If we are spiritually-minded like Paul and focus on the eternal rather than the temporal, we will experience the same spiritual blessings that Paul experienced.
We will realize that the cost of discipleship is high, but the value far outweighs the cost.
May we choose to forsake whatever is needful in order to submit to Christ. Being His disciple is more than worth it.
– Michael Hickox