Sue J Love
Loyal
- Joined
- Mar 27, 2015
- Messages
- 5,048
Luke 9:57-62 NKJV
Now it happened as they journeyed on the road, that someone said to Him, “Lord, I will follow You wherever You go.” 58And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”
59Then He said to another, “Follow Me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” 60Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God.”
61And another also said, “Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house.” 62But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”
If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, discipleship is not optional. It is required. For Jesus Christ taught that to come to him we must deny self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin), and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to living in sin and for self, we will lose our lives for eternity. But if we deny self, die daily to sin, by the Spirit, and we walk in obedience to our Lord and to his commands, in his power, then we have eternal life with God. For not everyone who calls him “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING (obeying) the will of God (Luke 9:23-26; Matthew 7:21-23).
So, when someone says that they want to follow the Lord wherever he goes, he makes it clear that this is not a party, not a game, and not something we just claim with our lips, but there is a cost to following Jesus with our lives. And it involves self-denial and death to sin and walks of obedience to our Lord in surrender to his will. And it engages hardships and sufferings and persecutions with no guarantees of comfort or physical or financial security. This is high risk, but it is all worth the risk of what might happen to us if we go with Jesus where he takes us and if we make a difference in other’s lives.
Thus, when we believe in Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior of our lives, it is not just so we can get our sins forgiven so we can escape hell and go to heaven when we die. It means leaving our former lives behind us to follow Jesus wherever he leads us in doing whatever he calls us to do. And we do not get to set the conditions. This is not an “if you, then I will follow.” It is not a, “let me do this first, and then I will follow,” either. And it is not something we just try out for a while to see if we like it before we decide if we want to stay. This is death to our old lives and total commitment to God.
And the thing of it is, God knows our hearts. He knows what’s in our minds. He knows what we are thinking. So he knows what our commitment level is, too, and if we are in it just for what we can get out of it, or if we are in it because we love God and we want to leave our former lives behind us to follow him wherever he leads us. So, if all we do is “pray the prayer” or make a verbal confession of Jesus as Lord, but we don’t go beyond that to surrender our all to him, and to follow him wherever he leads us, then we are not with him, and we are not fit for his kingdom because self is our god.
And this is not claiming that we will be absolutely perfect from this moment forward, but it is also not a pledge based on a false premise that we can continue living in sin, in deliberate and habitual disobedience to our Lord’s commands, and still have the hope of salvation from sin and eternal life with God. For if that is the case, we have gotten on the wrong ship, and we are sailing in the wrong direction, and heaven is not our eternal destiny. So please know that lip service only will not land us in heaven. We must be willing to go the distance because we love God and we desire him as LORD.
[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; 2 Corinthians 5:10,15,21; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:1-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]
As the Deer
By Martin J. Nystrom
Based off Psalm 42:1
As the deer panteth for the water
So my soul longeth after You
You alone are my heart's desire
And I long to worship You
You alone are my strength, my shield
To You alone may my spirit yield
You alone are my heart's desire
And I long to worship You
Caution: This link may contain ads
The Cost of Discipleship
An Original Work / May 12, 2026
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
Now it happened as they journeyed on the road, that someone said to Him, “Lord, I will follow You wherever You go.” 58And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”
59Then He said to another, “Follow Me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” 60Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God.”
61And another also said, “Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house.” 62But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”
If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, discipleship is not optional. It is required. For Jesus Christ taught that to come to him we must deny self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin), and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to living in sin and for self, we will lose our lives for eternity. But if we deny self, die daily to sin, by the Spirit, and we walk in obedience to our Lord and to his commands, in his power, then we have eternal life with God. For not everyone who calls him “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING (obeying) the will of God (Luke 9:23-26; Matthew 7:21-23).
So, when someone says that they want to follow the Lord wherever he goes, he makes it clear that this is not a party, not a game, and not something we just claim with our lips, but there is a cost to following Jesus with our lives. And it involves self-denial and death to sin and walks of obedience to our Lord in surrender to his will. And it engages hardships and sufferings and persecutions with no guarantees of comfort or physical or financial security. This is high risk, but it is all worth the risk of what might happen to us if we go with Jesus where he takes us and if we make a difference in other’s lives.
Thus, when we believe in Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior of our lives, it is not just so we can get our sins forgiven so we can escape hell and go to heaven when we die. It means leaving our former lives behind us to follow Jesus wherever he leads us in doing whatever he calls us to do. And we do not get to set the conditions. This is not an “if you, then I will follow.” It is not a, “let me do this first, and then I will follow,” either. And it is not something we just try out for a while to see if we like it before we decide if we want to stay. This is death to our old lives and total commitment to God.
And the thing of it is, God knows our hearts. He knows what’s in our minds. He knows what we are thinking. So he knows what our commitment level is, too, and if we are in it just for what we can get out of it, or if we are in it because we love God and we want to leave our former lives behind us to follow him wherever he leads us. So, if all we do is “pray the prayer” or make a verbal confession of Jesus as Lord, but we don’t go beyond that to surrender our all to him, and to follow him wherever he leads us, then we are not with him, and we are not fit for his kingdom because self is our god.
And this is not claiming that we will be absolutely perfect from this moment forward, but it is also not a pledge based on a false premise that we can continue living in sin, in deliberate and habitual disobedience to our Lord’s commands, and still have the hope of salvation from sin and eternal life with God. For if that is the case, we have gotten on the wrong ship, and we are sailing in the wrong direction, and heaven is not our eternal destiny. So please know that lip service only will not land us in heaven. We must be willing to go the distance because we love God and we desire him as LORD.
[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; 2 Corinthians 5:10,15,21; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:1-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]
As the Deer
By Martin J. Nystrom
Based off Psalm 42:1
As the deer panteth for the water
So my soul longeth after You
You alone are my heart's desire
And I long to worship You
You alone are my strength, my shield
To You alone may my spirit yield
You alone are my heart's desire
And I long to worship You
Caution: This link may contain ads
The Cost of Discipleship
An Original Work / May 12, 2026
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
