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Now large crowds were travelling with him; and he turned and said to them, ‘Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, saying, “This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.” Or what king, going out to wage war against another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? If he cannot, then, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of peace. So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions. (Luke 14:25-33)
There have been several times in my life that I have had to choose decisions that if I made them, I would have to be all in. No halfway compromise, but full-hearted, full-minded, all-body commitment. The first was my decision to go away for college. I chose a college about three hours away from home. I had no car. All my family packed into our family sedan, along with all of my earthly belongings; more important to me at that time was the Radio Shack stereo I had gotten for Christmas. They dropped me off, saw my dorm room, kissed and hugged me and off they drove. I had to decide that this was the right decision, the right place, and the right time to do what I needed to do. Within a few hours an upperclassman asked if I wanted to go see a movie. I started to say, "Let me go ask...Sure!" No longer had to ask permission to go to the movies!
The seriousness of Christ's call involves our being able to commit in the same way. I knew once I stayed, my job was to learn, study, work, and do all that was involved in my being a good college student. Jesus in the same way asks for our full commitment in all areas of our lives. Jesus matters more than family, for there will be some families that will not share the same commitment to Him and we will have to decide. Jesus gives us a task for which we need to also commit all of ourselves to complete. Jesus may even ask us to move far from where we are right now, and we should be ready to say yes, Lord, here am I. No one has ever said it is easy to follow Jesus. Discipleship costs. It cost Jesus His life, and it costs us our lives while living, to give all and do all.
PRAYER: Awesome God, here I am. Ready. Willing, and with Thy help, able. Use me. I'm all in. And this only because of Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!
Eradio Valverde
