11-18-23-ENG.

"Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. "

Luke 14:27
DO YOU UNDERSTAND?
Read It: Luke 9:58; 14:25-35
Remember, we said on Monday that Jesus always tells you the whole truth? Today's text is a case in point. We saw yesterday that as Jesus made His way to Jerusalem and the Cross, a potential disciple volunteered to join up. Jesus wanted to make sure this guy knew what he was getting into, so He said, "Do you understand stand what you just said? You said you would go with Me wherever I go. But I don't even know where I'm going to sleep tonight. Do you understand stand that total commitment to Me means you are not tied into the security rity of this world order? Do you understand that?" We need to ask ourselves these same questions today, especially because we are being blitzed by a pseudo-theology that goes like this: "I'm the King's kid, and the King owns everything.

Since I'm His kid, He wants me to own everything too. So I'm just going to tap into my inheritance and get whatever I think I need, because God wants me to have it." There are so many problems with this thinking that I don't have space for them all. One problem is that you can't find an example of this in the Bible. According to this teaching, Job was the biggest sinner ever because he lost everything. Now Jesus is not saying, "To be committed to Me, you have to go and sell your house, find a little cubbyhole, stuff yourself inside it, and live miserably." That's the other extreme. But Jesus is saying, "Commitment to Me means that if need be, you are available to give up those tokens of worldly security that everybody else clings to so hard. Following Me means that sometimes you may have noplace to lay your head." This is the sacrifice of commitment. Jesus made no apology for it, because He will never ask you to surrender anything without providing something better in its place. That doesn't mean if you give up your Chevy, He'll replace it with a Cadillac. It may mean just the opposite. The point is, Jesus calls us to make choices that only make sense in light of eternity. Think About It If Jesus requires you to give up what looks like worldly security, don't fret. Eternal security is worth a whole lot more.