Today’s passage: Luke 14:25-35
Helpful thoughts:
- There is no mistaking what the cross represents. When Christ died we died. All selfish ambition and self-preservation are contrary to what we have been called to do and be. We are new creations in Christ Jesus. We have a new master. (Romans 6)
- If my mother, father, wife/husband, children, siblings, friends, co-workers, or bosses tell me to leave Christ and follow them instead, I must follow Christ. “Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.”
- Christians are ambassadors. Christ did not save us to keep to ourselves. He gives us (Within the church) to each other and He gives the church to the world. We love because He first loved us. (1 John 4:19)
Questions to consider:
- What people or what fears are the most likely to give you pause or “prevent” you from following Christ? Why was it right to put quotation marks around “prevent”? Who deserves our whole obedience? Who has purchased our freedom from the bondage of sin?
- What things would you do first and what things would you do more if/when you had victory over those fears?
- In what ways are you adding to the good kind of “saltiness” of our church? (Not just “official” ministries…but as an ambassador of Christ to our community)