S - Luke 14:26-34 (NASB)
26 “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. 27 Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. 28 For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31 Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and consider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one coming against him with twenty thousand? 32 Or else, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. 33 So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions.
34 “Therefore, salt is good; but if even salt has become tasteless, with what will it be seasoned?35 It is useless either for the soil or for the manure pile; it is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
O - Jesus is speaking the a large group of people that have been following, including the 12 he has chosen to be his disciples, and speaks these words not to discourage them but to instill courage in them to the task ahead. Being a disciple of Christ would require that they give up much of what they had prior to being His disciple. Jesus instructs them that there is a cost to following him, and that this must be considered and bought into. The salt analogy is particularly revealing in that it shows that if we don't count the cost of following we may lose courage after a period of following Christ, and then of what use are we as light and salt to the world.
A - The application for me is to recognize in my life that though I have at one time counted the cost of following Christ, I may still need to revisit this periodically to ensure my heart is still aligned with my original commitment. I must recognize that while my vision for my life might be changing, God's vision never has changed. That while he has given me experiences, talents, and gifts to be salt of the world, He expects me to stay fresh and continue to influence people with Christ's love. I must daily seek to stay connected to him, and who he is placing in front of me, deny my own agenda for the day, and minister to the people he brings into my life.
P - Dear heavenly Father, I thank you so much for your investment into my life through you spirit, and through your word. I thank you for restoring my drive in my devotional life. I pray that you would help me count the cost of following you, and give me the courage to follow you. I pray that you would help dust off my saltniness so that I once again can see myself being light and salt to those around me.
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