June 9th, 2024

25 Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, 26 “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. 27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. 28 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? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31 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? 32 And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. 33 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

What he is meaning to say by hate is to put above Jesus. I have been realizing that being a Christian is simply not a personality attribute, it is not a hobby or a part time commitment but a commitment that overwhelms my entire life. If I am to truly believe the words of the bible and trust that Jesus died on the cross for all of our horrible sins, then why not prioritize that as my upmost importance in life? Much easier said than done

To be a true follower of Jesus goes beyond how we use the word follow. To follow the news and to follow Him is two unimaginably different things. To only read the gospels as a sort of hobby, to fulfill some sort of moral checkmark in your soul is entirely comprised of the same attitude as only trusting in God's greatness when it is convienient to you. Personal sacrifice must be made, I must stay true to what I believe, even if it means judgement and ridicule from friends or family. I must be willing to give up working on sundays as a weekly reminder that I must not put money above Jesus.

Later in the text, he talks about how people plan accordingly to what they sign up to. If I am building a house, I must make sure I have enough funds to do so, or else I will end up with a half-built house that will serve no purpose to me. If I am truly commited to God, I must accept that I am all in, willing to put everything including my own life and personal wellbeing below the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. If I do not, I will be living a false faith, I will contradict myself and be a hypocrite. I must plan accordingly to what it means when I call myself a true Christian. I must acknowledge that I am not worthy of God's grace and forgiveness, I am a sinner, as we all are, and I must show mindfulness and gratitude through Jesus Christ.

It is quite a marvelous idea that none of my own worldly pleasures or possessions ever truly matter, my house, my car, my things, my food, my website, these are all things that nourish my physical being, while the only true spiritual and everlasting nourishment comes from the commitment to Christ, the gospels, prayer and a constant gratitude in the wonderful things and people He has given me the privilege to experience.

It is very important that we do not fall into superficiality. The value we place in Jesus must exceed the value we place in ourselves as we are not above God and have no reason to be so. We see too much of an emphasis on ourselves in modern times, yet what would we be without Him. Being a Christian is not a phase or a trend of a time, but a difficult commitment we shall plan to take to our death. Even if I am destined for eternal suffering or darkness, would it not be better to show gratitude to the creator who at least allowed me to experience joy in life? If I can accept that there are things in this life that I love, then I can accept that there is no scenario where I cannot show faith and gratitude in Jesus Christ.

I'd like to call myself a reformed Christian. Though I have much to learn, I understand what I am signing myself up for. I have been going to church for a little while now and I am trying to make more of an attempt to understand and embrace the scripture. I don't want to be a Christian because of any promised things that benefit me, but because of a thankfulness to God for the incomprehensible things He has made and sacrificed for me and the people I love.