Discipleship has consequences
by Faye Schmidt
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Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? (Luke 14:28)
Read Luke 14:25–35
Are you an impulse buyer? A person who, when shopping for an item will see something they like and buy it and then, on taking it home are faced with some realities – it is too big for the space, the wrong colour, or too expensive to be covered by the money in the bank? Then we are faced with what we can do with the now-unwanted item.
In today’s text, Jesus is making it clear to us that being one of his followers is a serious matter and has consequences far beyond just the decision to make our commitment to him.
It is not a matter of following the crowd and relying on the strength of the crowd to carry us – it is personal, individual, about our commitment to loving and serving Jesus and having a relationship with him. And that has consequences.
Am I prepared to work on this relationship? Am I prepared to listen to God through his word? Am I prepared to serve wherever he sends me and to those he puts in my path? And am I prepared to make him and his will the priority in my life?
This is not easy, but we are not left to flounder our way through this. God has sent his Holy Spirit to guide, strengthen and uphold us on our journey of faith. In Luther’s explanation to the Third Article of the Apostle’s Creed he states, ‘I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to him, but the Holy Spirit has called me by the gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith’.
So, what seems impossible to us to achieve is made possible by God himself, who desires all creation to be made whole and one with him.
By your Holy Spirit, Lord, strengthen me in my faith in you and love for my neighbour so that I may be a true disciple accepting all you require of me, trusting in your grace. Amen.
Faye Schmidt continues her diaconal calling through governance, having served on the Vic–Tas District Church Board, the General Church Board and currently as chair of the Standing Committee on Constitutions and her congregation, Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Adelaide. Having lived and worked in many locations within Australia and overseas, Faye has a heart for the stranger and the newcomer and for being open to new ideas, learning from others and responding to needs.
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