Jesus Above All
Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14:25-33)
As believers walking in our faith, we are called to love God above all else. This is literally the essence of the first commandment, to put God above everything in our life. But following Jesus is not without its hardships. It demands a radical devotion to Christ that surpasses even our deepest earthly relationships. As disciples of Christ, we are called to bear our cross and follow Him wholeheartedly.
The Cost
Jesus Himself spoke very clearly about the cost of discipleship. He said, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:26). These words may initially sound harsh, but it speaks to the depth of our commitment to Him.
Being a disciple of Jesus means prioritizing our relationship with Him over every other relationship, even our closest family and friends. It doesn’t mean we don’t have love for our family; instead, it redefines it in light of our love for Christ. Jesus must occupy the throne of our hearts, with no rivals for that seat.
Choosing to follow Jesus demands a willingness to let go of anything that might hinder our devotion to Him. This could mean letting go of certain goals in life, worldly possessions, or even our own human comforts. It’s about surrendering all that we are and all that we have at the feet of our Savior, Jesus.
The Path
Following Jesus isn’t an easy path, but it is the best path and only path that leads to eternal life. It may lead us down places we never thought we’d go, and it may take sacrifices that are extremely difficult in being obedient to God.
Yet, through it all, there is a deep joy in walking in His footsteps and being refined through what we face, knowing it’s producing good things in us. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. (Matthew 16:25).
And we can know and take comfort that our Good Shepherd is leading us down paths of righteousness for His Name’s sake. And even when we are walking through the valley of the shadow of death, we don’t have to fear because He is with us! (Psalm 23)
Your Identity
To be a disciple of Jesus is to identify with Him completely. It’s about taking up our cross daily and following Him, regardless of the cost.
There is no identifying with Him in the resurrection without identifying with Him in the cross. When Jesus was on earth, He followed the Father’s will perfectly even when it led Him to the cross to pay Himself as the sacrifice for us. To identify with Christ is to wholly embrace His teachings, His example, and His mission as our own.
Paul reminded the Romans about this identity when he said, “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.” (Romans 6:3-5)
Our identity in Him isn’t just here on earth, it’s in heaven before our heavenly Father, in which we’ll one day live forever with Him if we choose to follow Him now!
The Finish
Another important note here in Jesus’ examples of building a tower and going to war, is that the end result is the most important. There are many people who started their walks with Jesus coming out of some really bad things – drugs, alcohol, violence, sexual immorality, the list could go on and on. But in Christ, His sacrifice covers all of it. How awful it would be to start following Jesus after hearing the good news of the gospel and then fall away and not reach the end with Him!
In walking in our identity in Christ and pushing on in Him even when it’s hard so that we make it to the finish line well, we should do as Paul did when he said, “I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you.” (Philippians 3:13-15)
So, let’s listen and obey the call of our Lord and Savior – love Him above all else, in carefully counting the cost of discipleship, follow Him wholeheartedly, and find our true identity and our ultimate purpose in nothing but our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.