The Cost of Discipleship

This has been weighing heavy on my heart lately.  It seems that many people who call themselves Christians are confused at what that truly means.  The Bible is VERY clear about what it means to be a follower of Christ.  We don't get to pick and choose what we want to listen to.  We don't get to say, "Oh, well I'll sacrifice this, but I don't want to give up that because I enjoy it too much."  And when someone confronts us on it we say, "Whoa buddy!  Don't judge me!  You're not perfect and what I do is between me and God!" 

It drives me crazy!  No, no one outside of Jesus is perfect.  That much is true.  But Jesus Himself defines the cost of following Him and it's not cheap!  In Luke 9:23-26, the Bible says, "Then He said to them all, 'If anyone desires to comes after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.  For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.  For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost?  For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father's and of the holy angels.'" And later on in Luke 14:26-33 Jesus talks more about the cost of discipleship.  He says in verses 26-27, "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.  And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple." 

Those are pretty incredible demands, don't you think!?  "Bearing one's cross" was really just requiring total and utter commitment to Jesus.  The cross was a form of death.  Jesus is calling us to die to ourselves on a daily basis - to die to OUR wants, desires, hopes, dreams, etc and to focus on Him.  Eventually, our wants, desires, hopes, dreams, etc will become more like His.  To be honest, there are days when I have to die to myself on an hourly basis.  Ha.  There are days when I have to pray for Him to help me quiet my my wants and desires just about every few minutes!  But that's another story! So if you're going to CLAIM to be a Christian, you need to understand what that really means.  Jesus said that no one really starts a project without first counting the cost....So, don't start calling yourself a Christian unless you really understanding what the sacrifices really are!

Anyway.  It's hard to put what I want to do aside because let's be honest...what I want to do is fun.  What I want to laugh at is fun.  What I want to joke about or talk about is fun.  But it's not what God would have me do - or laugh at - or joke about - or talk about.  And EVERYTHING I do needs to honor Him.  Everything I put in my body needs to honor Him. And people are watching, whether I know that or not.  I am an example.  They're listening.  They're watching.  The Bible says that unbelievers will know I am a Christian by my fruit (in otherwords, how I act, how I talk).  So am I different?  Do I talk different?  Do I act different?  I sure hope so.  Because I'll be held accountable for everything I say. "A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified and by your words you will be condemned." Matthew 12:35-37.  That's steep!  Every awful thing I have said and ever will say, I will have to give an account for to Jesus on the day of judgment.  GAAA!  That's humbling.  Anyway.  I have just had all these things weighing so heavy on my heart the past few weeks and needed to get it out somehow.  So I decided to blog.  Now I think I can get to sleep.  :)  G'night all!