I Have Decided

"Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him." Luke 14:27-29

I was very encouraged and challenged this morning in thinking on the connection between following the Lord and calculating the cost. I have had times in the past where I have wondered things such as, "If such and such horrible thing happened, would I deny the Lord? I can only hope and pray that I wouldn't." But the Lord wants more than that from His followers. He says in effect, "Don't bother coming after Me at all if you're not intending to follow to the end/utmost." Our words and life ought rather to be a resounding "yes!" Rather than faltering prayers, let us give Him our all. "I have decided to follow Jesus--turning back is not an option." Surely He is worthy of much more than our indecision regarding what we would do if He didn't allow things to happen how we would like. He is KING Jesus. Oh, may we gladly and wholly give Him our all. And, by His sufficient and prevailing grace, we will follow till the end. ~Rachel Vann