(57) And it came to pass, that as they went in the way, a certain man said unto him, Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. (58) And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nest; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head. (Luke 9:58 KJV)

How many times have we heard someone utter these words. Lord, I will follow you wherever you go? How many times have we ourselves said those very words? In essence it all sounds very good, but have we ever stopped to consider what we are saying really means? In the above scripture an eager man exclaimed to Jesus. Lord, wherever you go I will follow you. Jesus response to him was that foxes have holes, the birds have nest, but I the Son of man do not have a place to lay my head. Now was Jesus trying to discourage this man from following after him. No, of course not. Jesus was however letting him know that the road to following him would not always be easy. In fact a lot of the times when we follow Jesus. We won’t always understand where he is taking us. Jesus was not trying to dissuade him, but rather he was preparing him for what was to come. If we are honest with our selves. When we think about following Jesus we don’t think that the path he may take us on may include things like homelessness, being jobless, loneliness, rejected and ridiculed. Lately, I have been asking myself. Why do we really follow Christ. Is it so that he can pave the road to our blessings. Which includes things like health, material possessions, job promotions, marriages etc. Or do we follow him because of what he did for us on the cross. Taking our sins and making it his own. So that we may have the right to eternal life. We sometimes tend to think that God is with us when we have the job, the money, clothes. We measure being blessed by the things that we have. Not who we have and that’s Christ Jesus. Now scripture does not tell us if the man decided to still follow after Jesus or not. I do know however, that if he did decide to follow Jesus in spite of being warned of the hardships to come. That there would be provision. Jesus would not lead you into a place, where he does not have provision. Something that I had to personally learn was that sometimes that provision won’t look like how I think that it would look like. Yet, he still provided.

So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14: 33 KJV)

What is Jesus saying in this verse. He is saying that whoever holds on to things in this life cannot be his disciple. Is Jesus saying that in order for us to follow him that he wants for us to have nothing? No, not at all. Forsake, simply means to abandon or to give up. What Jesus is saying that if we can’t give up our lives for him that means that we can’t be his disciples. He is saying that you can’t truly follow after me holding on to things that you refuse to relinquish hold of. In verse 26 Jesus tells us If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. Hate in this context does not literally mean to hate someone. What it implies is that if you put them or yourself before Christ then we cannot be his disciples. A disciple is simply a follower. Jesus is telling us that we cannot be his disciple. If we put other people, other things, even ourselves in front of him. Jesus is saying that in order to follow him. That he must be Lord above all. That nothing or no one should come before him. For meIn I struggled in my walk with God, because for years I tried to lead God into what I wanted. Instead of letting him lead me into what he desired for my life to be. So this blog is a major ouch for me cause it shows that I truly did not forsake all for him. Forsaken all is not always just about people. Forsaking all could mean giving up how you thought your life should be. Sometimes it could mean giving up careers or the thought of starting a family. Jesus tells us also in this chapter to count the cost. He is telling us to count the cost of what it truly means to be his disciple. It’s not always glitz and glamour. The sun isn’t always shining. Following Jesus can be hard sometimes. There will be times when the tears will fall. There will be times when you wonder where is God. There will be times where you will want to throw in the towel. There will be times when you ask yourself does God even care. Jesus tells us to count the cost. That means the whole cost. Yes, at times following Jesus will be hard but he promised to be with us in every season. Never leaving us nor forsaken us. He promises that he will supply all of our needs and sometimes we don’t notice how he supplies for us. Until we are in a season of lack. He promises to comfort us in our times of suffering. These are just a few of the things that God promises to those who put their faith and trust in him. I want for people to walk away after reading this. To ask themselves what does it truly mean to follow Jesus. Am I prepared to follow him in the hard place. Am I prepared to follow him even if it requires giving up what I love the most. When his will for my life looks nothing like the plans that I have for my life. Will you still decide to follow Jesus?

God’s blessings,

Aqua.