Part#4 We must be completely sold out to Him!
Luke 14:26
* If you want to be my disciple you must hate everyone else by comparison, your father, your mother, your wife, your children, your brothers and your sisters- yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you can not be my disciple.*
I believe the meaning of this verse here is that compared to our love and devotion and commitment to God , all else must be disposable to us, it must mean nothing to us; and yes that even means our own life.
God wants to move us out of our comfort zones. He wants us to be able to walk away from anything and anyone at anytime when He calls on us. Luke 18: 29-30 says *I assure you that everyone who has given up house, wife, parents ,children, or brothers and sisters for the sake of the kingdom of God, will be repaid many times over and will have eternal life in the world to come.*
Commitment is a decision that we have to make for ourselves individually. And as we do God wants us to count the cost of that commitment. He knows that not everyone will be able to a total commitment to become a true disciple. Here are four things that get in our way of making a total commitment.
1) We aren't willing to give up our security. We have a house, a car , income coming in but, to make a total commitment we would have to be willing to walk away from all that and fully rely on God to provide a place to sleep and transportation and for all our needs.
2) We aren't willing to give up the cares of this world. Our careers, our everyday routine, our habits,
etc.
3) We are not willing to leave our loved ones behind to serve the Lord. ( this does not refer to married couples as God always call couples to minister together.)
4) We are not willing to give up our lifestyle or possibly even our very life for what we believe in.
What is our commitment level? God wants us to count the cost. That doesn't mean if we feel the cost is to high we say 'no way, this is to much' but, instead it means when we see how much commitment we can give we turn to God and say I want to , please help me with the things that I can not.Mark 9:24 is an example of that very thing. * Lord, I do believe, please help me overcome my unbelief.* Jesus will meet you right where you are at, all you have to do is ask.
We must commit ourselves to taking the step even if it seems foolish and off the wall. He is always there ready to help us if we fall short but, we need to take that initial step . We must have this commitment within our own heart in order to reach the Heart of God.
God doesn't want a halfway commitment, He wants all or nothing. When we give Him our all He will give us His all. Revelation 3:15-16 says * I know all things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish that you were one or the other. But, since you are lukewarm, I will spit you out of my mouth.* The church is full of lukewarm christians who are not committed to anything. Are we one of them or are we totally sold out for God?
A commitment is a decision that says " I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back.
Luke 9:62 says * Anyone who puts a hand to the plow and then looks back is not fit for the kingdom of God.*
In his book Reaching the heart of God , Mac Owen explains commitment like this. It takes commitment to run a race. When we run a race we do not go out wearing extra clothes and heavy boots. We don't carry extra weight if we are out to win. Yet, look at how many times we take the heavy weight of the cares of this world into our race of commitment. We drag along the load of our ideas, prejudices, and unforgiveness. We bring along our judging, our criticizing, and many other weights of sin and we are still trying to run the race that God has set before us.
Hebrews 12:1 says * Therefore since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down; especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race that God has set before us.*
If we have our heart right with God, it can be joy knowing that we are in His will. We must have a heart transplant because, we can not do it on our own. We have to let God change our hearts but, to gain that we have to be totally sold out committed. A decision that only we can make.
God is asking us today: are you really committed to me? Are you ready and willing to do what ever I ask of you? Are you willing to give up all including your own life to answer my call? God wants us to be sure we count the cost before we say yes, and call on Him if we need help.
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