Luke 14:26-27 New International Version (NIV) 26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. 27 And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” — Jesus Christ
Without tipping my hand too much, here’s a story from my own life. Many years ago I committed to a huge debt, far more than you can imagine. I didn’t have the collateral to qualify for it, but the circumstances at the time permitted it. I literally had to pledge everything my wife and I owned–house, cars, investments, furniture, kids, dogs–you get the picture.
This situation placed me into a difficult position. Whatever it took, I could not afford to fail. The demands proved extraordinary with a massive amount of work, incredible hours, extensive travel, much stress, hardships on the family, assaults to my health, etc. It required absolutely total commitment, and not just 100% but 1,000%. Failure would devastate me and my family for the duration of my life.
Years passed by. Only at the end of three years did things start looking up. In another couple of years I began to see some light at the end of the tunnel. It took eleven years before success really started. High risk = high reward.
Who would do something so crazy? The truth is that every single one of us is in situation with far higher stakes. My experience was child’s play by comparison. We are souls temporarily contained within physical bodies, which will wear out some day. Our souls continue–not to another body, but to the spiritual realm where we will spend eternity. Our years on earth are a pittance in comparison. While I have absolutely no Biblical basis for making this statement, my guess is that Heaven has no clocks and Hell is full of them.
We make choices and decide on whether we’re going to take the wide or narrow road. Today’s scripture tells it plainly. Following Jesus requires all we have, and a willingness to lose everything on earth to follow Him. Failure is not an option. We must give it up totally for Him.