FEBRUARY 2 COSTS, PRIORITIES, AND AIM

 

Yesterday we saw the tremendous price Abraham was willing to pay in order to obey God.  You will not reach your destiny without it costing something somewhere along the way.

In Luke 9:57-62, three men approached Jesus desiring to follow Him. To each of these potential disciples, Jesus revealed a different aspect of the requirements for fulfilling their purpose.

Considered costs. The first man attempted to follow through self-effort.  He did not wait to be called by Jesus, but said "I will follow you wherever you go" (Luke 9:57-58).  When Jesus shared with him the difficulties this would entail, there is no record that this man elected to follow. You cannot fulfill your destiny through self-effort.  You will not be able to successfully confront the challenges that your spiritual purpose entails without a supernatural call from God.

Proper priorities.  The second man received a call from Jesus, but he wanted to bury his father first (Luke 9:59-60). In Bible times when a person said he was waiting to "bury his father," it did not necessarily mean his father had died.  It meant he was waiting until his father died in order to receive his inheritance.  So when this man used this excuse, he was actually placing his future inheritance before the call of the Lord Jesus Christ.  At the critical moment when Jesus summons you to embrace your destiny,  nothing must be placed before that call.

Absolute aims.  The third man desired to follow Jesus on his own terms (Luke 9:61-62).  He wanted to return home first to tell his family goodbye.  Bidding his family farewell sounds like a  normal thing to do, but Jesus had called him to follow.  Did he want to answer the call or follow his own plan for life?  This man's aims in life were not settled. He was torn between the old life controlled by self and the new life to which Jesus called. 

When you were called to follow Jesus in accepting salvation, you had to abandon the old life in order to receive the new.  Your priorities changed.  It may have cost your relationship with friends or family when you accepted Jesus as your Savior.  The call to fulfill your destiny will also cost.  Jesus said: 

For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish...So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.  (Luke 1428-30,33)

Have you considered the costs of pursuing your divine destiny?   Is the thing God is calling you to do your main priority, the absolute aim, the most important thing in life to you?