The end of Luke Chapter 14 is a section on the cost of discipleship. Jesus begins by telling the large crowds that were following Him that there is a cost to becoming His disciple. Sometimes that is the cost of family members or friends who do not embrace following Jesus. It is always the cost of bearing our cross and coming after Him.
Jesus used a couple illustrations of this cost, one being the cost of building a tower.
“For which of you, wanting to build a tower, doesn’t first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it?” [Luke 14:28 HCSB]
The thing that always gives me pause is that phrase, “enough to complete it.”
I am a great beginner. I am a not-so-great finisher. You can tell that by the books on the shelf that have bookmarks in the middle of them, or the beginnings of things in my craft baskets, or the …. Well, the list is endless.
In the end it will not really matter if I finish books or blankets or scarves or paintings or …. It will matter if I have “enough to complete” my discipleship.
I am 74. The finish line is much closer now. I pray I have counted the cost and have enough to complete my discipleship. I want to be able to say like Paul, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” [2 Timothy 4:7 HCSB]
