CAN YOU FINISH what you started? Others are watching ready to mock. What have you taken on that you can’t finish? Do others know you as someone they can’t trust to do what you say you are going to do? Jesus told us to “count the cost” of our walk with Him. You who started in Him, are you able to finish? “For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it — lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish’?” Luke 14:28-30 NKJV
He’s not really talking about building a tower in this portion of scripture, although it’s still true. Don’t start something you can’t finish. Jesus is talking about the COST of following Him. There is a cost to following Jesus. Whoever told you that you can be the same and live life on your terms AND follow Jesus, lied. Read that again. It is the Spirit of antichrist that lies to you and tells you that you can live life on your terms and inherit eternal life at the same time. This is a false narrative my friend.
The Lord requires that you give up all your life, all your plans, all your desires and follow Him. He requires that the old man of sin be buried and the new man in Christ rise. Then, you willingly go where He tells you to go and do what He tells you to do. Forsake the world and separate from sin and evil. Deny yourself and live for the glory of the Lord alone.
“It is the same for us all – ‘whoever’. I am to deny myself, take up my cross and follow him. Every Christian is called to costly sacrifice. Denying yourself does not mean tweaking your behaviour here and there. It is saying ‘no’ to your deepest sense of who you are, for the sake of Christ. To take up a cross is to declare your life (as you have known it) forfeit. It is laying down your life for the very reason that your life, it turns out, is not yours at all. It belongs to Jesus. He made it. And through his death he has bought it.
Ever since I have been open about my own experiences with homosexuality, a number of Christians have said something like this: ‘the gospel must be harder for you than it is for me’, as though I have more to give up than they do. But the fact is that the gospel demands everything out of all of us. If someone thinks the gospel has somehow slotted into their life quite easily, without causing any major adjustments to their lifestyle or aspirations, it is likely that they have not really started following Jesus at all.” Sam Allberry, author and apologist
It was the same for me. When I took up my cross it required a complete separation from the old Crystal. My life was no longer my life, it was forfeit to Jesus. He purchased me with His blood and made me a new creation. I gave up all to follow Him and the rewards of obedience are so much more than I deserve. The COST is high and obedience is costly; but disobedience will cost you a great deal more. Are you prepared to pay the cost? Many people turned back from following Jesus after He said these things, “Whoever does not forsake ALL that he has cannot be My disciple”. Count the cost friend.
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