June 20 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

Devotional

When Jesus made His way through the Israelite villages and towns, teaching and performing many signs and wonders, He attracted much attention. Large crowds followed Him wherever He went. Frequently He had a hard time finding a place to rest. Mark 3:7-8 tells us, “But Jesus withdrew with His disciples to the sea. And a great multitude from Galilee followed Him, and from Judea and Jerusalem and Idumea and beyond the Jordan; and those from Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, when they heard how many things He was doing, came to Him.” People were fascinated with Christ’s miracles and all the powerful things He was capable of doing.

In Luke 14 the Lord Jesus is coming to the conclusion of His earthly ministry. At this critical moment He calls those who have been following Him to consider the costs of being His disciple. He says in Luke 14:33, “So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be my disciple.” In Matthew 10:34-39 Jesus addresses the crowd in a similar way. There is, however, an important difference between what He says in Matthew 10 and Luke 14.Whereas in Matthew 10 Jesus warns the people to know the consequences of becoming a disciple, in Luke 14 He warns those who have been following Him for some time to know the consequences of being a disciple.

The cost of being a true disciple of Jesus is high. As we follow Him around, not on the dusty roads of Palestine, but on the pathway of His Word, we need to listen carefully to what He is saying to us. The twelve apostles were with Christ for three years; yet so much of what He said to them passed them by. They didn’t hear it! We have the Bible as our guide. The primary question of being a disciple is not “What would Jesus do?” but “What does Jesus teach us to do?” We need to listen carefully to what our Saviour says to us and not let our own theology or opinions make us deaf to His teachings.

Being a disciple of Christ is life-changing. It means life is no longer all about us—our interests, pleasures, and desires. We yield our whole life to the Lord. May the Lord strengthen us through His Word so that we become more and more aware of the consequences of being a disciple of Christ.