Vital signs- Friday, January 26th, 2024

Vital signs

It takes time to calculate the cost of a project and determine whether or not you have what it takes to complete the project. Then once you have determined the price you must ask yourself if you are willing to pay the price or willing to take the risk of losing what you have invested if it doesn’t work.

So...what is the cost? What does it take for me to follow Jesus? In a word...everything. My days. My nights. My time. My money. My effort. My wants. My desires. My hopes.

My dreams. My goals. My perspective. My preferences. My schedule. My reactions.

My coping mechanisms. My bad habits. My sin. My very self. My everything. Each moment. Everyday. Day after day. As long as I live.

Following Jesus does cost us everything. We must be willing to lay aside anything and everything that keeps us from being all His. We must be willing to do whatever the Lord asks of us, whenever He asks it, cheerfully following, trusting and resting in Him.

It will not be easy. We often don’t understand why God requires the things He requires of us or why He allows the things He allows. But God knows best. He is a Good Shepherd. We must trust Him and follow Him. If we will do so, there will be grace to light our way. Not to mention Gods plans for our lives are far greater than anything we can imagine!

”Now great multitudes went with Him. And He turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it— lest, after he has laid the 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 to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace. So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.“

‭‭Luke‬ ‭14‬:‭25‬-‭33‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Lord Jesus, I need you. I cannot do this on my own. You know me and yet you love me. You know me. You know all of my sin, my weakness, my wrong thinking, my idolatry, my fears, my love of self, and my unbelief, and yet you have still set your affection on me. You are a loving Shepherd, and I want to follow you. Please help me fix my eyes upon you and help me to trust that you will show me the way and give me all the grace I need to obey.

Show us your glory.

In Jesus' name, I pray,

Amen