1052405 The cost of discipleship – Luke 14:25-35, A.D. 29 Bethany across the Jordan
And now great multitudes were going with him. And he turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to me, and does not hate his own father, mother, wife, children, brothers, and sisters, yes, and his own life, he cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not bear his own cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, to see if he has enough to complete it? Or perhaps, when he has laid a foundation, and is not able to finish, everyone who sees begins to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build, and was not able to finish.’ Or what king, as he goes to encounter another king in war, will not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends an ambassador, and asks for conditions of peace. So therefore, whoever of you who does not renounce all that he has, he cannot be my disciple. Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its flavor, with what do you season it? It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile. It is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
