In Luke 14:25-33, Jesus identifies three barriers that make it difficult to follow Him:
- People
- Priorities
- Possessions
As already noted in a previous post, the people we love the most can really get in the way and hinder godly devotion. In addition, misplaced priorities and seeing things from a temporal perspective, rather than from a godly point of view, keeps us from true discipleship.
This week, I want to talk about how our possessions make it so hard to follow Jesus.
Luke 14:33, “So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.”
According to the Lord Jesus, we must “forsake all that we possess”, “renounce all that we have”, or we cannot be His disciples!
But what does that mean? Does it mean that we are not to enjoy the good things that God has blessed us with? James 1:17, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. (James 1:17 ESV)
No, we are to enjoy the good gifts that the Father gives to us; however, we must not depend on “things” to satisfy us. As we grow in our discipleship, we will want less and less of things and more of Him. He is the one who satisfies the deep longings of our souls-not possessions.
It has been my privilege to do short term mission trips in the third world countries for many years and I am always amazed that, although these believers seem to have nothing by our standards, they seem more joyful and satisfied than most professing Christians in America. Why? Because He is enough!
Is He “enough” in your life?
