“True Cost of Discipleship”
©2013 James Dacey, Jr. OFS
Today's gospel maybe too harsh for many. I find it
to be “inspiring truth” to me. Jesus never said following Him was going to
easy. The cross He asks for us to embrace and follow in this gospel in verse 33
says this, “So therefore, whoever of you
does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.” Today's gospel is
Luke 14:25-33 (Sayings about Discipleship). Some might interpret this has a
very hard saying from our Lord, but we must understand the importance of us
placing Him first in our lives, period. Just take a look at the first three
verses, “Now great multitudes accompanied
him; and he turned and said to them, "If any one comes to me and does not
hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters,
yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his
own cross and come after me, cannot be my disciple.” Verses 25-27. We are
to "hate" and "bear", my research shows that
obviously we are not to "hate" as in the meaning of the word the way
we use it. My research found that hating something back then, meant “to prefer it less”. Language was strong
so that there was complete clarity in the message that no one at all must be in
our lives first, before God. All the cost have been taken into consideration as
that echoes in this scripture.
Yes I will be the first to tell you that “the cost” to take up your cross and
follow Him; truly, will cost you your earthly life, some friends and all of the
world's treasures. Many close friends (not
necessarily school friends) of the past, who initially knew me as a “Jesus
freak” have abandoned me. I care and I do pray for them, but, oh well what
can I do? Along with the loss of many of my other acquaintances, I often deal
with dirty looks or wise remarks when I speak of Jesus, and believe me I speak
of Him a lot; most especially when it comes to our ministry. Through the years
the wise remarks have lessened and my answers have gotten more Christ-like. And
now in my old age (lol), I don't ever get anger when someone’s ignorance of God
or Jesus or our Lady -attacks me. I instead pour out His love inside me all
over them, usually that always puts out the flame of hatred they have towards
me, because of God or Jesus or our Lady. Which brings to mind a question, I
thought of this when I was doing all my reading while researching: What is the
cost and risk, that was spoken of in the gospel, and why is it so important to
plan ahead? The answer is more insightful than straight forward. Jesus
guarantees us success when we follow Him, that's a true biblical fact. So with
that said, we begin following Him knowing what will inevitably happen. What
does that do? It should give us the “kahunas”
to forge forward sharing His love with everybody. LOL. So be BOLD in the
Lord...So now we know that in order for us to “FOLLOW JESUS” it will cost us literally everything. Hmm…, are you still following my blog now, it's no joke, this is for real, I surrendered my embrace of this world a long time ago. Nothing here will get us there (Heaven that is…). If you hold on to the things of this world they will become the anchor that won't allow you to freely, quickly follow Him. Now consider: Is what Jesus is offering to us, worth everything, is the cost to receive "Eternity in Heaven with Him" too much for you to bear? I hope that was rhetorical. Of cause it's worth every bit of it and more. “One mere drop of His precious blood is worth more than every single possession, and every kind of wealth in the entire universe.” –you can quote me on that… We are God's children, we should be screaming and shouting with JOY, that we have such an awesome, loving, caring God and Father in Heaven. We should do anything and everything we possibly can to do whatever it'll take to be with Him. Consider scripture as your guide (use my Mon-Fri Gospel challenge) and Jesus' own words as the directions. Also PRAY THE ROSARY every single day; 20 decades… We must give our Lord 24 hours of every day, and then fit everything else in. You will regret not doing that. Please I beg of you to put Jesus absolutely first all the time.
So as we wind down this very exciting, very direct gospel and blog, do you see what we really need to do? Do you see how important it is for us not even to put any person before Him? Anything or anyone worshiped and thought of before God is "idolatry" in some form. And our God is a loving, merciful, forgiving, caring God; but He wants no other Gods before Him. So we must trust in His word, His promises and the depths of His love for us; so that when we put every single thing we possesses and cherish on the line for Him, we know we are doing the right thing. Praise Jesus for today's very powerful reading. I really hope you to get excited and all wound up with overflowing Joy after reading today's gospel. We know the ending of the story, we know what God has promised; now it's up to us. Drop everything and put everyone on hold and RUN after Him with every single bit of energy and excitement that you have inside your heart. Become like me, a goofy, all wound up strange excited child of God. My Joy is ALWAYS in Him. He sets my heart a flame with His love. He is all I think of 24/7/365... Just do it. Pray to Him constantly, day in and day out, "Jesus, I trust in You."
LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!
Come PRAY THE ROSARY with us every evening Monday through Friday 9pm EST with our
"Our Lady's Rosary Text Vigil Group"…
Invitations posted daily… and throughout the evening…
https://www.facebook.com/RosaryManJim
Your brother in Christ Jesus
And His Most Blessed Mother,
Jim (The Rosary Man) Dacey Jr OFS
My Revised and Revitalized blog from: Sept. 9, 2010
And His Most Blessed Mother,
Jim (The Rosary Man) Dacey Jr OFS
My Revised and Revitalized blog from: Sept. 9, 2010
http://www.pinterest.com/rosarymanjim/
