The Cost of Following Jesus
"When Jesus saw the crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to the other side of the lake. Then a teacher of the law came to him and said, 'Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.' Jesus replied, 'Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.' Another disciple said to him, 'Lord, first let me go and bury my father.' But Jesus told him, 'Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.'" Matthew 8:18-22
So God has SERIOUSLY been plaguing my thoughts with these verses, especially about the part about, "the Son of Man has no place to lay his head."
I have been praying this to God, "God I am willing to go anywhere, at anytime, to do anything for You."
And now God is leading me somewhere...that I don't want to go. Because it means giving up comfort, personal time, convenience, friends, and even acceptance and approval.
But the place He is leading me, there is SUCH a need there. Its where the harvest is plentiful and laborers are few.
But God has asked me, if you choose to live in comfort in college, you will probably choose this for the rest of your life.
And then God led me to this verse, "For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it." Mt. 16:22
God supplies our comfort, not things. He says it in His Word. (2 Cor 1:3-7)
There is cost to following Christ. In the first verse, Christ states that He didn't have a place to lay his head. So if we follow Christ, we must be willing to live under those circumstances!! So hard. And then he even tells one of his disciples to give up burying his father to follow Him! How many times have I rejected to follow Christ because I needed to be with my family or go to school...those don't even compare to burying someone. And they CERTAINLY don't compare to following Christ.
So I ask myself, what is God calling me to give up in order to wholeheartedly follow after Him?
Where to live next year? What to do for the summer? What to do with my weekend? My friends? The lost people I know? Your schedule?
I guarantee you, when you pray that you are willing to go anywhere, at anytime, to do anything for Christ...He will make you sacrifice everything...so you can fully depend on Him.
So God has SERIOUSLY been plaguing my thoughts with these verses, especially about the part about, "the Son of Man has no place to lay his head."
I have been praying this to God, "God I am willing to go anywhere, at anytime, to do anything for You."
And now God is leading me somewhere...that I don't want to go. Because it means giving up comfort, personal time, convenience, friends, and even acceptance and approval.
But the place He is leading me, there is SUCH a need there. Its where the harvest is plentiful and laborers are few.
But God has asked me, if you choose to live in comfort in college, you will probably choose this for the rest of your life.
And then God led me to this verse, "For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it." Mt. 16:22
God supplies our comfort, not things. He says it in His Word. (2 Cor 1:3-7)
There is cost to following Christ. In the first verse, Christ states that He didn't have a place to lay his head. So if we follow Christ, we must be willing to live under those circumstances!! So hard. And then he even tells one of his disciples to give up burying his father to follow Him! How many times have I rejected to follow Christ because I needed to be with my family or go to school...those don't even compare to burying someone. And they CERTAINLY don't compare to following Christ.
So I ask myself, what is God calling me to give up in order to wholeheartedly follow after Him?
Where to live next year? What to do for the summer? What to do with my weekend? My friends? The lost people I know? Your schedule?
I guarantee you, when you pray that you are willing to go anywhere, at anytime, to do anything for Christ...He will make you sacrifice everything...so you can fully depend on Him.