What Do You Mean?

 

"For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple."    Luke 14:28-33 (ESV) The beginning statement of this passage and the final are where we should focus. If we desire to accomplish something in this life, we need to first sit and assess the cost of such a thing. We then need to arrange our life to meet the cost. The final statement states the obvious cost. It is a cost on which we often do not want to honestly evaluate or be challenged. Somehow, we have figured how to not renounce all, yet live as “good Christians.” Can different cultures have different meanings to “renouncing all,” or does “renouncing all” mean the same in all cultures at all times? This is something that is clear, to which we will someday be held accountable, and it is not a suggestion. It is a statement. What shall we do with it?

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