Think It Through!
(June 8, 2026)
My dad used to say, “Son, use your head for something besides a hat rack!” It was
his ‘polite’ way of saying, “Mike, think it through!” Jesus put it this way in Luke 14,
“For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count
the cost, whether he has enough to finish it…” [Emphasis mine].
Jesus was using the building of a tower to emphasize the importance of thinking
through the cost of being a disciple of His and whether one had the ability to
follow through to the end. In the beginning of that same passage Jesus said, “And
whoever does not bear his cross [deny himself] and come after Me cannot be My
disciple” (Luke 14:27).
Jesus Christ is not looking for Fairweather fans. He gave His all on the cross to
provide for our salvation; He expects no less from us if we want to follow Him.
Jesus also said in that same passage, “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate
his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own
life also, he cannot be My disciple” [Emphasis mine]. Jesus is using hyperbole here
to emphasize that our love for Him must be so complete that love for other
people, and family, looks like hate in comparison.
Remember the parable about the man who found a treasure of great price in the
field, went and sold everything he had so he could buy the field? (Matthew 13:44)
Do we understand and believe that Christ is that treasure? The apostle Paul said
that he considered everything he possessed or could know excrement so that he
could know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His
sufferings (Philippians 3:7-11).
So, let me ask you. Are you merely dabbling in a religion or are you devoted to
Jesus Christ who died for you? Have you counted the cost and determined that it
is worth it to give up everything to follow Christ? Remember that Jesus also said,
“What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul?”
(Matthew 16:26).
Count the cost, my friend, of believing, and not believing.