(KJV.) ST. LUKE 14:26
(26) If any man come to me and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.
THE COST OF DISCIPLESHIP
Brethren, who is a disciple? (i) a disciple is someone who is a follower of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, (ii) someone who educates his/herself by taking lessons from an intellect, in other to equip themselves to train, educate, and teach others; however, to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, one has to put him first in all areas of their lives; when one hears his voice callings them to come unto him, one ought to fully response, forsake all worldly things, cast away their own personal desires, and focus their minds, hearts and souls entirely only on what matters to him; many times one has to forsake it all, walk away from relations, secular jobs, wilfully, totally, joyfully surrender themselves, take up their crosses and follow him; cf. Matthew 16:25.
Due to the fact, that we live in a worldly world, whereby the flesh constantly wars against the spirit, we perceive things of this world with carnal minds, follow and do whatever others do, it becomes a struggle to deny, seclude ourselves for Jesus Christ; however, to be used mightily by him, one has to make a turn from following the multitude, and fully yield themselves to his will; but what is the will of Jesus Christ? his will, is his commandments, instructions, and desires for humanity; today, let us think deeply, retract from memory, if we have received any instruction from Jesus Christ to do his will, but we have not yet responded fully to his callings, today, let us see what we need to do in other to honor his words; at times, a disciple, has to break away from love ones in other to move forward in his will; what Jesus is saying is, do not worry about them, worry about what you have to do for me, I will take care of what needs to be taken care off while you are doing my will, persevere, move forward, have faith in me!
In the above text, Jesus said to the multitudes, "if you desires to follow me, you cannot bring along your family members, paying attention to me, while paying attention to them at the same time, you have to tune off the past life, focus on the future with me, and cast away self-centeredness, sacrifice your lives to help others come unto me; if you cannot be with me, you cannot be my servant."; that also means one ought to exemplify themselves in him, walk in his footsteps, sacrifice their lives for him: for example Jesus called twelve disciples, (i) Simon Peter, Andrew; James, and John, the sons of Zebedee were all fishermen, however, when Jesus called upon them to follow him, they left their fishnets immediately, and followed him; Matthew 4:18-22; (ii) Levi, the son of Alphaeus, was a tax collector, Matthew was a publican in the same profession; however, when Jesus called upon them; they obeyed, left their undertakings, and became disciples; therefore, if we have heard the voice of Jesus Christ, calling us out of darkness into his marvelous lights; let us not delay, but embrace the call, take up our crosses and follow him; for in him, there is life everlasting: therefore, seek ye first the kingdom of our Father, and his righteousness, and all things shall be added unto you forever and evermore. Amen and Amen!
QUOTES OF THE DAY:
(KJV.) St. Matthew 10:37-38 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me is not worthy of me.
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