The Cost of Discipleship

The Lord knows us better than we even know ourselves. He understands everything about us. He knows the state of our heart at every point in time, why we do things or would want to do things, He knows.

It is therefore unhealthy for anyone to walk in hypocrisy when serving the Lord.

Now, listen to what the Lord said to three different persons on the account of following Him in Like 9:57-62 (please read)

One came asking to follow Him but the Lord, either tested him or knew the state of his heart for wanting to follow Him. So, He told him that the Son of Man has no where to lay His head but Jesus called another to Him but his excuse was to go and bury his father and the Lord told him to let the dead bury their own dead, are you not surprised at the Lord's response because this was his father in question? The third person wanted to follow the Lord but not until after bidding his people farewell but Jesus replied him that no one who puts his hand on the plow and look back is fit for the kingdom.

This clearly shows that discipleship is not a joke. It is either you are committed to it or not. You can't be neither here nor there.

Lessons derived from this account. With one the Lord tried to establish that following Him should not be about amassing earthly wealth or gaining popularity but commitment that comes out of a sincere heart with love and trust to really follow Him no matter the present situation. Did he follow Jesus after hearing that the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head? Well, the Bible didn't state that but If no, then He was never ready to pay the price of following Jesus.

With the others, He established that in following Him, one must discard every distraction along his/her way even if it is one's father, mother or family members. It also implies that serving the Lord should be now, today as you have the strength and time, the Lord does not want procrastination or procrastinators in His kingdom.

Why do you follow Jesus?

Is it because you love Him or because you want Him to bless you or because you want to escape hell? None of these are wrong or bad but love and gratitude to grace should be our foremost drive.

Would you still follow Jesus if he told you, you would never have a house of your own like Paul he never took away his infirmity?

Serving Jesus should be because you sincerely love Him and truly want to live for Him, other things will follow naturally. Don't ever make other things your priority for serving Him.

The name of Jesus can heal anything and everything.