As they were walking down the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the son of Man has no where to lay his head.”
He said to another man, “Follow me.” But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”
Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.” Jesus replied, “No one puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God. Luke 9:57-62
As I sat and read these verses over and over countless times the past couple of days I couldn’t get this out of my head of what Christ expects out of us. Yes we know we need to have a relationship with Him, stay in His word, share His love with others, etc. But do we REALLY get it into our head how uncomfortable it can be to be a disciple of Christ. There is more than just your daily devotion time, going to gatherings at church, and an occasional lunch with someone to encourage them.
Do you see what Jesus is saying here?!? Let’s look at these verses.
#1 Jesus was telling this man in order to follow him, expect to be homeless. That he doesn’t guarantee a basic shelter. #2 He told the 2nd guy to let someone else bury his dad! WHAT? Because there is more important stuff to do. #3 The third guy wanted to follow Jesus but say bye to his family first. But Jesus basically told him no—that a relationship with Him requires exclusive devotion.
I know this has always been in the bible, but this really hit home for me. Leaving for the race in a few short months is going to require a lot out of me. Am I ready?! I know God will equip me to get there. But I see myself in this story a bit.
There will be times that I am going to feel homeless and alone because all of my comfort items and nice things are either sold, given away, or boxed up in America. While I am gone, life will continue on in America with my close friends and family. But also things will happen where I wish I could be with them or even a tragedy, but I will have to remind myself that there is still kingdom work to be done like the scripture says as hard as that will be to walk it out.
And finally I’ll be putting my relationship with Jesus first while I am gone—keeping my sponge soaked and not dried out. So there will be times where my only alone time will be to put my earphones in while the rest of my team is skyping home, calling home, and finally receiving internet. I have to be OK with the fact that God might just want me in that time. Even if I am wanting just small conversation from home, I have to realize that He will far exceed that.
We can all take these verses however we want. But for the past couple of days I haven’t been able to get it out of me. Are we really taking it to the extreme on what it cost to be a disciple? I think too many times it is just a surface thing, and once we start getting uncomfortable we back off. But is that being a true disciple? I am not saying you have to go across the world and do what I am doing, but what I am saying is that do you really know what it cost to be a disciple? And are you willing to let God take you there?
