If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own Father and mother, and wife and children, and brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, wanting to build a tower, doesn’t sit down first and compute the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it……? In the same way therefore not one of you can be my disciple if he does not renounce all his own possessions.” Luke 14:26-28, 33 NET https://bible.com/bible/107/luk.14.26-33.NET

The cost, the commitment God expects us to pay, to be His disciple, His child, is everything we have and everything we want. He invites us to consider such a price though failure to pay is to lose our souls in hell. How many in our churches are paying such a price? Who loves Jesus more than his family, stuff, or even his life? How do we prove such a thing? Certainly, our time is indicative of what we love most. Do we spend time with God in His word and in prayer regularly because our joy in Him is increasing? Are we giving more and more money to see His kingdom come and His will be done on earth as it is in heaven? Are we growing in passion for the lost, sharing Jesus with the unsaved, becoming increasingly burdened by the awful eternal future of those who refuse Christ so are pleading with them and God to save their souls? Jesus gave His life to complete the Father’s will, so He expects no less from His followers. We die to ourselves. We give all we have and want for His glory on earth to live with Him forever in heaven and the new earth. This is not working for our salvation but working out our salvation in obedience to His commands. He saves us by His grace and then commands us to follow Him. Being a believer is a myth for gaining heaven. Jesus called people to be disciples, and a disciple no longer places themselves above the interests of God but places God’s interests above their own.