the cost of discipleship‏

Luke 14:25-33

²⁵ Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, ²⁶ “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.²⁷ Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.²⁸ 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? ²⁹ Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him,³⁰ saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ ³¹ Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?³² And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace.³³ So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

This move to Cedar Falls costs a lot: friends, family, church, job, house, chiropractor, coop and comfort.

But it is worth it.

This move to Cedar Falls requires much deliberation: FSBO, linkedin, resume’, staging, loans, attorneys, moving, etc…

But it is worth it.

It’s not that we have not thought it through or considered how difficult it might be.

We are not now surprised by the trials associated with this decision.

Rather, we are surprised at how weak our faith is to endure that we imagined ahead of time.

We never outgrow our need to be reassured.

If we think we do, we are in the perfect place to be tipped over.

Following Jesus is worth everything.

Knowing this compels us to cast aside these current comforts and take on discomforts.

Discomfort is still discomfort though and we need prayer, friends and fellowship to get through it.

We need to be confident, convicted, confessional, committed and most of all covered in Christ continually.

(yeah, I just one-up’d your 3C’s and went for broke with one a solid half doz. plus one)

 

Hebrews 10:35-39

 

³⁵ Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.³⁶ For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.³⁷ For,

“Yet a little while,
and the coming one will come and will not delay;
³⁸ but my righteous one shall live by faith,
and if he shrinks back,
my soul has no pleasure in him.”

³⁹ But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.

Please pray for us to remain rooted and rested in Christ, our Sabbath, as we plow forward.

No one is beyond the need for prayer and protection.