One of Jesus’ hardest quotes regarding the requirements for a disciple is found in Luke 14:33 where it says: “Any of you who does not give up everything he has, cannot be my disciple.” Many Bible scholars have tried to interpret this passage by saying that it doesn’t really mean what it says, but it is evident by the way the disciples acted as the Lord Jesus called them for service that they understood exactly what Jesus meant. Forsake all means forsake all, nothing more, nothing less.
A true disciple is able to abandon it all for the sake of the call. He uses the resources God places in his hands for the advancement of the gospel. This doesn’t mean that he doesn’t work. On the contrary, he labors hard to provide for his family and those in need. He understands the Lord’s commandment when He said “Do not store for yourselves treasures on earth.” Matthew 6:19
By forsaking it all, the disciple offers to God that which he cannot keep anyway. One day, we will be before the Lord and we will give an account for what we did with our life. These words seem distant now, but believe me, one day they will be a reality for you and me. Jim Elliot, a famous missionary said it well: “he is no fool who gives that which he cannot keep, to gain that which he cannot lose.”
One of my favorite verses is Philippians 3:8, where the apostle Paul wrote: “More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ.”
Rich Mullins wrote in one of his songs that “The stuff of Earth competes for the allegiance I owe only to the Giver of all good things .” Lord, release our lives from the temporary so that we may take hold of the eternal. Amen
A true disciple is able to abandon it all for the sake of the call. He uses the resources God places in his hands for the advancement of the gospel. This doesn’t mean that he doesn’t work. On the contrary, he labors hard to provide for his family and those in need. He understands the Lord’s commandment when He said “Do not store for yourselves treasures on earth.” Matthew 6:19
By forsaking it all, the disciple offers to God that which he cannot keep anyway. One day, we will be before the Lord and we will give an account for what we did with our life. These words seem distant now, but believe me, one day they will be a reality for you and me. Jim Elliot, a famous missionary said it well: “he is no fool who gives that which he cannot keep, to gain that which he cannot lose.”
One of my favorite verses is Philippians 3:8, where the apostle Paul wrote: “More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ.”
Rich Mullins wrote in one of his songs that “The stuff of Earth competes for the allegiance I owe only to the Giver of all good things .” Lord, release our lives from the temporary so that we may take hold of the eternal. Amen
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