The cost of following Jesus

The cost of following Jesus

“When Jesus saw the crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to the other side of the lake.  Then a teacher of the law came to him and said, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” 
Jesus replied, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” 
Another disciple said to him, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” 
But Jesus told him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”
                                                                                 Matthew 8:18-22.
Here we see how much the disciples had to give up to follow Jesus.
Jewish culture placed a big responsibility on the children not only looking after their parents but also burying their parents.
To ask someone to leave that and follow Jesus was a big demand.
The ministry of Jesus had little time to waste. Jesus was not on this earth very long. Jesus understood this.
For this reason he called his disciples to decide what was more important in their lives.
In the same way we need to decide how important a place has Jesus in our lives.
We also have to be careful here.
I know too many pastors that have thrown themselves into their ministry only to see their family fall apart.
To see their children turn from the faith and to have their marriages break up.
Evangelism begins at home someone once told me.
There is no evidence that the marriages of the disciples ever broke up. I believe and it’s only speculation, but I believe their families understood and backed them up.
That’s the way it should be for us.
We need to have our families on our side when we are working for the Lord. We need to help build our families up in the ways of the Lord.
Then and only then can we truly minister for the Lord.
Think about it.