Counting the Cost of Discipleship

In Luke 14:25-35, Jesus is very clear about the cost of following him. It demands much more than learning to become a Pharisee, a scribe, or a ruler of the synagogue. It doesn’t hinge on family name, tribal identity, or education. Discipleship involves hate, cross-bearing, counting the cost, and renouncing all to follow Jesus. At one point, Peter seems to have laid his cross-beam down. He had boasted in Mark 14:31, “If I must die with you, I will not deny you.” Yet, he denied even knowing Jesus. In a beautiful picture of grace, Jesus gently restored Peter back to usefulness. Do you love Jesus more than anything or anyone else? Have you counted the cost? Have you taken up your cross to follow him? Have you renounced all? If not, Jesus said twice in this passage, you “cannot be my disciple.”