For thought and meditation

[rl69]

And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple."

—Luke 14:27

Jesus was becoming very popular in His ministry—maybe too much so. People followed Him in great numbers. The crowds swelled on a daily basis. But Jesus looked at these people and, being God, knew their motives.

He recognized that most of them were not interested in spiritual things at all. They wanted to be dazzled by a few miracles. Others heard that He had fed the hungry. A few hoped He would overthrow Rome and establish the kingdom of God.

There were various reasons people had for following Him, but He realized many of them were following Him for the wrong reason. Thus, He made a series of statements intentionally designed to thin out the ranks. He wanted to be left with those who really wanted to follow Him—not fair-weather followers but true, committed disciples and soldiers.

In the same way in the church today, there are many people who are not really interested in the spiritual. God wants us to follow Him for the right motives.

Jesus said, “Whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. . . . Whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14: 27, 33). Here Jesus laid out plainly what it is to be His disciple, to be a soldier in His service.

God has an unusual set of mathematics. He subtracts in order to multiply. Sometimes we think bigger is always better. But these words of Jesus show that He is more interested in quality than He is in quantity. Yes, He wants everyone to come into the Kingdom. He wants everyone to believe. But He wants us to come with the right motives, because a halfhearted soldier can be more of a liability than an asset.

[claude]

(James 1:18) "Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures."

Firstfruits is a rather specific term, and if one backtracks it in the Strong's concordance to G757, it sheds light on the verses below, YMMV

(Isaiah 9:6-7) "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. {7} Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this."

[Blackwater]

Many people, on coming to light, seem to think it's over, and they've "finished the job" once and for all. When my eldest grandson made his commitment, I commented that "Now the hard part begins," and he looked at me like I had three heads! But it was true, and I think he's learning that. He's one fine young man, very active in the church (they both are), and I am VERY well blessed by these two boys. It's SO humbling to see them take the paths they have, and grow as they have.

Crosses were never easy to bear, and we each have our own particular crosses to bear, and maybe even multiple ones. We face many tests of our mettle, and we grow as we drag that old rugged cross along with us. We shrink if we leave it and go somewhere, and it can be even heavier to bear when and if we return to it. But we each have our own personal crosses to bear, and it may be ironic, but after a while, we get to the point that we're actually THANKFUL for our burdens! It's those that have really made and shaped us into the people we are today! So thank God for these crosses! Without them, what would we likely be?