Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Carry Your Cross and Follow Me - Becoming a Disciple of Christ

Today's Reading:
  • Luke 14:7 - 35
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Luke 14:7 - 35

Following Jesus completely requires our entire heart and soul.  It requires giving up all the things we think define us.  Chapter 14 of Luke was a hard one to read because it really forced me to think.  Starting in verse 25, Jesus told the large crowd that was following him around what it would cost for them to truly be a disciple of Christ. 

Jesus told the people that they must love him so much that they hate everyone else by comparison - family, spouses, children, even themselves (14:26).  Jesus told the people that they would need to carry their own crosses (14:27) in order to follow him.  He then says that they would have to give up everything they own to follow him (14:33).

Reading passages like this one makes me feel widely inadequate as a Christian.  I know there are many people out there who do this very thing to this day - they preach in areas where following Christ could easily mean the death of them.  They give up their possessions, they become poor - they give up everything and go out onto the world as disciples of Christ.  Those, I think, are the most blessed of people on this Earth. 

I need to reevaluate myself -- what am I truly doing to follow Christ?  

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