Following Jesus isn’t a call towards hatred. However, in comparison to the love and devotion that one must have for Christ, the love for our parents or our dearest friends could be seen, hyperbolically at, as hate.
May we spend time reflecting on the cost of following Jesus.
[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.
[ WHAT ] is this passage saying and what is a key truth or thought that we learn?
+ What must we bear to become a disciple of Jesus?
+ What does one do before building a tower?
+ What must be renounced to be a disciple of Jesus?
[ HOW ] is the Lord calling me to action/obedience?
+ Is there sin to confess or a next step to take? How has it gone since last time?
[ WHO ] am I walking with and praying for to discover Jesus?
+ What is my next step?