By
John Foll
“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. Whoever
does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.
For which one of
you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the
cost to see if he has enough to complete it? Otherwise,
when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it
begin to ridicule him, saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to
finish.'” Luke 14:26-30 NASB.
Are you able to finish the course
that is set before you? Hebrews 12:1. You will be able to finish the course that is
set before you, if you count the true cost, and the true value of the
surpassing riches that God wants to provide you. “And raised us up with
Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus, in
order that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace
in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” Ephesians 2:6-7 NASB.
Count the cost of loving, obeying
and serving Jesus. Whenever you
see the true value of serving Jesus with all the love, joy, peace, faith and
all the other gifts that He wants to give you, and agree willingly to serve
Him, then this will be what your soul wants, and you will get it. The value of
what you get infinitely exceeds the cost that you will pay. But He who loves his own father, mother, wife, children,
brothers or sisters, and even their own life more than Jesus, cannot be His
disciple. When you calculate the true cost and value of giving your heart
completely to God and serving Him, you will see that even though you may have
to suffer much from friends, family and others, and may even make the ultimate
sacrifice, that it will all be worth it in the end, for the rich bounty of
love, joy and peace that you will reap for yourself and others whom you have
helped, now and for all eternity in Heaven! God will call you His good and
faithful servant, if you prove to be faithful to Him. So count the cost!
What kind of
a price can you put on having peace, wonderful peace, and having this great
love and joy that God wants to give you? Is
there anything in this life that can equal it or compare with it in any way?
No. God’s gifts that He wants
to give you are priceless and beyond compare. All the riches of this
world cannot compare to one moment of pure peace, love and joy that He will
give you! And this peace, love and joy will continue throughout eternity,
without end! Oh, the riches and
bounty of God for us poor mortals!
Jesus also
said, “So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give
up all his own possessions.” Luke 14:33 NASB. If you give
all of your possessions willingly and freely to Jesus, He will bless you and
keep you. He may not ask you to sell or give away all that you have to the poor
right away, like the rich young ruler thought He had asked him to do (Luke
18:22), but He will ask you to be a wise steward of your time, goods, means and
talents, which you should willingly use to bless others as they have need. Matthew
25:14-30. The poor include not only the poor in this world’s goods, but
those who are poor in the knowledge of salvation. Our heart should care about our poor brothers and sisters throughout
this world that do not know Jesus yet, or those who don’t know Him all the way
yet, that need to get to know Him better. Jesus knows you have needs and
will take care of you! He is not necessarily asking you to sacrifice all
that you have now, but to be willing to help others, as the need arises, from
your store of resources. He is asking
you to love your neighbor as yourself (Leviticus 19:18, Matthew 22:39), because love is the fulfillment of the law.
Romans 13:10. But whatever you do to help others, the cost is insignificant
compared with the infinitely better riches and reward of love, happiness, and
joy that you will accrue throughout eternity! Whatever sacrifice you make for God is definitely worth it, if you count the cost and the return on your investment
that you will get forever in Heaven! Don’t think about what you
will lose, think about what you will gain! When
you have God’s love in your heart, you will find that the things of this earth have
lost their hold on your heart, and you will willingly give to help others, even
sacrificially. And you will be happy to do it!
If anyone does not love his
neighbor as themselves, they cannot be Jesus’ disciple, because He said, “A new commandment I give to you,
that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My
disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:34-35 NASB. And:
“This is my
commandment, that ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his
life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye
do whatsoever I command you.” John 15:12-14 KJV. So if you want to be Jesus’ friend, you
must do whatsoever He commanded you, which is to love one another, as He loves
you. Therefore anyone who does not love his or her neighbor as
themselves, cannot be Jesus’ disciple.
But if you find God’s Spirit
stirring your heart with love and joy, and see the true value of serving Him,
you will willingly yield your heart to Him! And then you will see that
there is no sacrifice too great for your God, whom you love, for all the peace,
love, faith, hope, and joy that He gives you, and from all the love and
joy you get as you see someone else made happy when they give their heart to
Him, and become as happy as you are! Enter
into the joy of your Lord, enter into the kingdom of Heaven prepared for those who
love Him! Matthew 25:21. Amen.
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