Daily Reading for Personal Growth, 40 Days with God

What it will be like to obey Jesus

²⁵ Crowds of many people were travelling with Jesus on his journey. So he turned and said to them, ²⁶ ‘If someone wants to obey me, he must live like this: He must love me more than he loves his own father and mother. He must love me more than he loves his wife and his children. He must love me more than he loves his brothers and his sisters. He must even love me more than he loves himself. If he does not do that, he cannot be one of my disciples. ²⁷ He must live like a person that carries his own cross to go and die. If he is not ready to die for me, he cannot be one of my disciples.^[a]

²⁸ Here is an example. Perhaps one of you wants to build a tall building. Before you start to build, you will sit down. You will decide how much it will cost. Then you need to know if you have enough money to finish the work. ²⁹ If you do not do this, you may not have enough money. You may put the first stones in the ground, but then you cannot finish the building. If you have to stop, other people will laugh at you. They will say to each other, ³⁰ “That man is a fool. He started to build, but he could not finish the work.” ’

³¹ Then Jesus gave them another example. ‘Perhaps a king wants to fight a war against another king. But before he goes to fight, he sits down. He thinks to himself. “Can I win this war? My army is large, with 10,000 men. But the other king has twice as many soldiers in his army. ³² No, I cannot do it. I know I cannot beat the other king.” So, while the stronger king is far away, he will send a man to him with a message. He will tell the other king that he does not want to fight. He will ask him what he can do so that they become friends together.’

³³ Jesus then said, ‘It is like that for all of you, if you want to be my disciples. You must leave everything that you have behind you.

³⁴ Remember this. Salt is good. But if it is not salty any more, it is no longer any good. You cannot make it salty again. ³⁵ You would not even put it on your field. It cannot make the soil good. You would just throw it away.^[b]

You have ears. So listen well to what I say.’