TerryLema

Yesterday’s devotion was about “Counting the Cost.” That was one of the concepts of discipleship Jesus put forth in Luke 14:28-33.  It is affiliated with discipleship.

I think “counting the cost” is not only part of discipleship, but also a part of life. Perhaps a very integral part of living in this world. And perhaps one that we have forgotten to give proper attention.

I have a slew of doctor appointments this month, six in a few weeks. All different types of doctors. I even joked about it on Facebook—that it takes a horde of doctors to keep one 77-year-old woman upright.

My first one was last Monday, with my endocrinologist. I am glad she was first because I walked out after “counting the cost” with her.

I am having the reappearance of some physical issues that may require a return to a medicine that I worked very hard to stop taking. It can cause long range physical problems. At the same time, it should help with my current pain and fatigue. Should I choose short-term relief and accept the long-term problems? Or should I endure the pain now to have a few more years?

Usually, the answer is to endure the short-term pain. But at 77 years old, that choice can be phrased a different way – quality of life or quantity of life.  My endocrinologist helped me to “count the cost,” and go with quality of life over quantity.

And after all, for those who love and serve God, Paul made that choice easy … “We are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord.” [2Corinthians 5:8 NLT]

Jesus, Luke 14 reports, gave three concepts to the large crowd that was following Him. He spoke to them of what it means to be a disciple, the necessity of picking up our cross daily, and the wisdom of counting the cost.

While I grew up in a church, I had only a vague concept of discipleship, the cross, and the cost. I was told that salvation consisted of Christ laying down His life on the cross (think of it as a down payment) and my keeping up the installments with good works.

I now know that that concept of salvation is incorrect. Christ paid the full price of my salvation, and it is mine by faith because of God’s grace.

Still there is a cost—but that cost is not associated with salvation, it is associated with discipleship.

I remember some of my friends telling me that getting saved meant I would have to give up all the stuff I loved to do. They said God would strip me of everything. Initially, I associated that with “counting the cost.” Was I willing to give up everything I loved to have God’s salvation?

As it turned out, I was not stripped of anything, I was blessed with so much more. God gave me new desires—His desires—and I could hardly wait to embrace those things. The old things that I thought were so important simply slipped away. The things of God turned out to be worth so much more than the things I used to value.

The “cost?” My few things for God’s everything! Hallelujah!

I once heard a man refer to his wife as “his cross to bear.” I’ve heard people refer to other things as their “cross to bear.” Most of those references were about petty things, those small annoyances of life that everyone has. I don’t think that is what Jesus meant when he said to the crowd in Luke 14: “And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” [v27]

Earlier in Luke Jesus also spoke of picking up our cross. “If anyone comes after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” [9:23]

It must be important for Jesus to mention it twice. Look at the words Jesus used in those two instances, and you’ll find a depth of meaning.  First one to consider is simply “the cross.”  The cross was an instrument of death. It had no mercy. Everyone who went to the cross died.

Second, Jesus said that we are to carry our cross “daily” as we follow him, meaning this is an everyday experience, not a sporadic one.  The last thing we must consider is that little phrase “deny himself.”

Putting those thoughts together, we get a glimpse what Jesus intends for His disciples. Each day we put our own will and desires, our self, to death.  Hanging on our crosses are all our “self” words, attitudes, and actions. Self-pity. Self-centeredness. Self-glory. Self-determination to name but a few.

Instead of “self” we live for Him. His desires are our desires. His will, our will.

Father, that is our desire today. To put to the cross self and to live for You. Amen.

What does it mean to be a disciple. What does it mean to pick up your cross. What does it mean to count the cost. Those are hard things to define, let alone practice. We struggle at times to even put those concepts into words.

Luke tells us in chapter 14 that large crowds were following Jesus and at one point he turned to them and gave them three illustrations that define discipleship, counting the cost, and picking up your cross.  [read verses 25-33 today)

The first illustration is a doozy!  Luke 14:26:  “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters-yes, even his own life-he cannot be my disciple.”

Jesus often used hyperbole to get his point across.  Hyperbole is extravagant exaggeration, such as someone advertising “mile high ice cream cones.” We know that while the cone may be bigger than most, it certainly isn’t literally a mile high.

Jesus was not advocating that we hate our parents, spouses, children, or siblings–even our own lives—literally.  He used this illustration and the word “hate” to remind us that to be His disciple, He must always hold first place in our affections.  The Greek word for hate here can also be translated to mean “to love less.”

The crowds often followed Jesus to get something from Him. He reminded them that to be true disciples, we must love Him more than anything in this life, even those things that are most precious and dear to us.

1 Thessalonians 5:15:  Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else.

If there is anything missing in our world now, it is kindness. I know many people blame social media for the lack of kindness. We hide behind our keyboards and think we can say anything we want to or about anyone. They call it “keyboard courage.”

Yet, we need to remember that social media is not to blame for the lack of kindness … our old sin nature is. Social media simply gave our sin a venue to express itself openly, but it was there all along, hidden deep in our hearts.

We want retribution, not kindness. If someone does us wrong, we want to wrong them right back. We are like James and John, the sons of thunder as Jesus referred to them –we want to call down fire from heaven on those who have wronged us or offended us.

Instead, we are admonished to “always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else.” 

It is not only IN the church that kindness must be displayed (the each other part), but it is kindness shown THROUGH the church (the everyone else part) that is to be demonstrated.

Father, help us to be like our Master, when they shouted curses at Him on the cross, He did not retaliate but instead forgave.  Amen.

1 Thessalonians 5:13-15:  And we urge you, brothers, warn those who are idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone. [NIV]

Ah, more of those commands from Paul’s pen about what we should be doing to be pleasing to our Father God. We are to warn, encourage, help and be patient with everyone!

Warn those who are idle. Paul admonishes those who can work and won’t work; those who tend toward laziness. (Here the emphasis is on those who are able and have opportunity to work, but just don’t want to do so.) For those he says, if you don’t work, you don’t eat.

But I think also we need to warn those who are idle in their Gospel ministry. We only have so many opportunities in this life to minister the Word of the Lord to others. One day those will be gone.

Encourage the timid. We can’t be timid in sharing the Gospel. We should be wise and heed the direction of God’s Spirit when and what to speak. But timidity, perhaps prompted by fears of rejection, should not be a character trait of believers.

Help the weak. I am often reminded of the words of Isaiah that described the Messiah, “A bruised reed He will not break, and smoking flax He will not quench.”

There are many who are hanging on by a thread, and as believers we need to help them become firm in their faith.  [Isa 42:3 NKJV]

I find Paul’s letters amazing. They are full of grace, grace, and more grace. It is quite clear when reading them that the work for salvation has already been done through the life, death, and resurrection of Christ Jesus. It is quite clear that God had it all planned from the very beginning and now this marvelous salvation is ours by God’s wonderful grace trough faith. We can do nothing to earn it (by keeping the law), and we certainly don’t deserve it. Paul is adamant about that in his letters.

But then he goes on and admonishes us how to live … and so often those words sound like commands. “Do this. Don’t do that.” How can it be about grace, and about “do this, don’t do that” at the same time?

Paul gives us commands, yes, but the commands have nothing to do with earning salvation. Paul is giving principles to live by now that we are already saved, already God’s children. He is telling us how to live that we might bring joy to our Father God.

“Finally, brothers, we instructed you how to live in order to please God.”  [1 Thessalonians 4:1 NIV]

Pleasing God. What an overwhelming thought. That I, a sinner and once an enemy of the Holy God, might now be pleasing to Him. Savor that thought for a moment.

Let me close today with a prayer from Hebrews 13:20-21: “May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.”

1 Thessalonians 5:13-15:  Live in peace with each other. [NIV]

One short sentence. One tall order.  Just look at those six words.  Live in peace with each other. And if you use another translation, it can be even shorter. Be at peace among yourselves. Only five words in the NKJV.  Still a tall order.

That tall order is part of Paul’s closing words to the church at Thessalonica. That final chapter really packs a wallop. It starts with thoughts about the Second Coming of Christ and ends with the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ with us. And in between are all kinds of admonitions of how we are to respect leaders in the church, deal with all kinds of circumstances and treat each other. It’s a great read if you have a few moments today.

Still, among all those admonitions, the six (or five) little words above probably give us the most trouble. This is one unpeaceful world we live in. (As proof, today is the 80th anniversary of D-Day)

We are assaulted on every side by things that seek to disrupt our peace. Even our own inner nature works to rile us up and keep us unsettled. Our society lately is an “offended” society, giving people more excuses for anger.

The church, however, is to be different. We are given the tall order to live in peace with each other. Peace is to be the atmosphere of those who love the Lord. If we are all connected to Him, as the body is to the head, how can we be at war with each other?

Father, I pray for Your people, Your church, the Body of Christ that we might be at peace among ourselves, and that we might be a good testimony to this unpeaceful world. Amen.

I opened one of my emailed daily bible verses the other day and found the familiar verse out of Psalm 46.  “Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” [vs10 NKJV]

I often find that a daily bible verse reflects something I am going through or confirms one of my recently posted devotions.  That is what happened this time.

At prayer a week ago, I noticed how fidgety I was. I rubbed my hands, curled my fingers, moved my legs and arms, leaned forward or back. I could not sit still. As I prayed, I realized that I fidget almost all the time, no matter what the setting. I also realized it is because if I remain in any one position for very long, my body gets stiff, and it takes me a while to loosen up enough to move again.

So, I fidget. I keep moving. And what does God remind me to do? He wants me to “Be still and know that [He is] God.”

I found both caution and promise in that verse.

The caution: A reminder that I am not to allow my fidgeting to move from my body to my soul and spirit. My mind, will and emotions are to remain “still.” My spirit is to be quiet in Him.

The promise: He is God! He will be exalted in all things. (Now in my soul and spirit, and one day in my glorified body!)

Thank you, LORD, for that reminder that you are indeed “God!”

In recent weeks, we have seen much devastation around our world.  Tornadoes have left wide-spread damage, countless number of people without homes or resources. There have been earthquakes and mud slides around the world. In Idaho, we are wondering if we will have another difficult fire season.

Many are looking to the federal government to bail them out with emergency funds, but the federal government is not all that flush with money either.  FEMA funds often run low, Congress always fights over budget expenses and revenues. I think most everyone would agree, things are a mess.

Many Christians are looking at the mess and thinking it’s signs of the Lord’s return and asking the question–If these truly are the signs of the Lord’s Second Coming, what should we be doing? 

In Luke chapter 2, Joseph and Mary had taken 12-year-old Jesus to Jerusalem with them. Then they lost Him. They were already heading home when they had every parent’s nightmare, they could not find their child.

They returned to Jerusalem and found the young man sitting with the elders and teachers in the temple courts. He didn’t understand why they were so upset and asked them, “Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?”  [verse 49 NKJV]

While they were panicked, Jesus was just doing what He knew He was supposed to be doing.

Yes, today things are a mess. And yes, some may even panic. Still, beloved, we need to be like our Master … going about our Father’s business.