Today's Readings: New Testament -
Luke 14:25-35 / Romans 5:1-11
Old Testament -
Psalms 53 / Numbers 12-14
Click on Text Links to Read Online
Focus Verses: Luke 14:28-33
28 "Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? 29 For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, 30 saying, 'This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.'
31 "Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? 32 If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. 33 In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple."
Unless a person is wise enough to see that he doesn't have the resources needed to build the life he desires, he won't turn to Christ. Until a person recognizes that she doesn't have the strength to withstand the attacks, burdens, and struggles life brings, she won't turn to Christ. The wisdom to acknowledge our limitations and needs is what moves us to turn away from self-reliance and instead reach out to Jesus.
Response & Action:
I give up on my ability to build my own life. I am looking to Jesus for the direction, purpose, and resources to find my life. I give up on defending myself from the challenges and adversaries that threaten to ruin me. I am depending on Jesus to defend and sustain me. Life is too big for me, but it is not too big for God. I am ready to be a disciple of Jesus because I have given up on me. I think the smartest thing I can do is to surrender and look to Christ for the strength and provision I need.
O God, thank you for Christ Jesus and his invitation to follow him. Give me the wisdom to hear and respond to his call with all my heart. Help me to see the wisdom of recognizing my limitations and my inability to build or sustain my life without him. Help me to give up everything in order to be his disciple. Help me to find my life, my purpose, my joy, my strength, my very self in Christ. Amen.
Spiritual Formation Verses: Matthew 10:37-39
37 "Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; 38 and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
Resources:
Following After God: What Difference Does God Make
by Daniel Hill
