1.The cost of salvation/redemption
A Preacher was walking along a country road. He met a young lad coming in the opposite direction, carrying a cage. There were three small birds inside - wet, shivering, and frightened. The lad had just caught them. Preacher asked him, "what are you going to do with them?" He said, "I'm going to have fun, I'll poke them, torture them, to my heart's content". Preacher: "how long will you do that? Won't you get tired?" The lad laughed and said, "I have a cat who loves birds, they'll become my cat's dinner".
Preacher said, "How much do you want for them?". Lad: "why do you want these ugly birds? They can't sing, they're not beautiful ..." Preacher: "just name the price!" Lad: "I can get other, better birds for you". Preacher: "no! I don't want any other birds, I want only these ones". The lad asked for a high price, the Preacher paid up, and the lad ran away.
The Preacher release the birds. He took the empty cage to his Church and narrated a conversation between Jesus and Satan. Satan had just returned from earth and was gloating: "I've trapped all these foolish people. I've made them marry and divorce, to hurt each other with words, to murder and steal, to rebel, disobey, and make themselves miserable and other miserable." Jesus asked, "won't you get tired of doing this?" Satan: "when I get tired I'll put them in hell, and let them burn forever and ever". Jesus said: "how much do you want for them?" Satan: "you don't want these foolish people?" Jesus: "I do want them". Satan: "they'll deny You, will not accept You as Son of God, will spit on Your face, drive nails into Your hands, ..." Jesus: "name the price". Satan: "ok. I need all your tears and all your blood". Jesus: "it's done". And He humbled Himself even to the point of death for us.
Jesus paid such a high price for our salvation. We can never pay Him back. The least we can do is try to follow Him, be His disciple ...
2.The cost of discipleship
If we plan to do something important or big, don't we sit down and plan things out? Getting ready for marriage. Buying a house/land. Buying a bike/car. Looking for a job. Similarly, we need to sit down and analyze ourself, if we want to become His disciple.
This is what Jesus expects of us, if we want to become His disciple:
1. Give Him the first priority every day.
There should no one, or no other thing which takes precedence over Him. We need to make sure that we give Him the first priority every day, not just today. We need to seek hard, and find ways to be with Him, get to know Him better, get into a strong relationship with Him ... a relationship that is stronger than any other relationships we have.
2. Find out His plans and purposes for our life and fulfill them.
This is our cross. It is not as heavy as Jesus'. He suffered alone. But because He overcame, we can be sure of our victory, and He is always beside us. His yoke is easy and His burden is light. We can easily carry our cross, when we give Him the first priority every day.
3. Emulate Him, do as He did.
In everything we do, we need to check it we're doing as Jesus would do. What would Jesus do? That's a good question to ask, whenever we need to do something important, or make some important decision. Empty ourselves more of our "self", and fill ourselves more of Jesus.
You want to follow Him at a distance? Or, you want to be close to Him? If you want to be close, you know what it costs ...
A Preacher was walking along a country road. He met a young lad coming in the opposite direction, carrying a cage. There were three small birds inside - wet, shivering, and frightened. The lad had just caught them. Preacher asked him, "what are you going to do with them?" He said, "I'm going to have fun, I'll poke them, torture them, to my heart's content". Preacher: "how long will you do that? Won't you get tired?" The lad laughed and said, "I have a cat who loves birds, they'll become my cat's dinner".
Preacher said, "How much do you want for them?". Lad: "why do you want these ugly birds? They can't sing, they're not beautiful ..." Preacher: "just name the price!" Lad: "I can get other, better birds for you". Preacher: "no! I don't want any other birds, I want only these ones". The lad asked for a high price, the Preacher paid up, and the lad ran away.
The Preacher release the birds. He took the empty cage to his Church and narrated a conversation between Jesus and Satan. Satan had just returned from earth and was gloating: "I've trapped all these foolish people. I've made them marry and divorce, to hurt each other with words, to murder and steal, to rebel, disobey, and make themselves miserable and other miserable." Jesus asked, "won't you get tired of doing this?" Satan: "when I get tired I'll put them in hell, and let them burn forever and ever". Jesus said: "how much do you want for them?" Satan: "you don't want these foolish people?" Jesus: "I do want them". Satan: "they'll deny You, will not accept You as Son of God, will spit on Your face, drive nails into Your hands, ..." Jesus: "name the price". Satan: "ok. I need all your tears and all your blood". Jesus: "it's done". And He humbled Himself even to the point of death for us.
Jesus paid such a high price for our salvation. We can never pay Him back. The least we can do is try to follow Him, be His disciple ...
2.The cost of discipleship
If we plan to do something important or big, don't we sit down and plan things out? Getting ready for marriage. Buying a house/land. Buying a bike/car. Looking for a job. Similarly, we need to sit down and analyze ourself, if we want to become His disciple.
This is what Jesus expects of us, if we want to become His disciple:
1. Give Him the first priority every day.
There should no one, or no other thing which takes precedence over Him. We need to make sure that we give Him the first priority every day, not just today. We need to seek hard, and find ways to be with Him, get to know Him better, get into a strong relationship with Him ... a relationship that is stronger than any other relationships we have.
2. Find out His plans and purposes for our life and fulfill them.
This is our cross. It is not as heavy as Jesus'. He suffered alone. But because He overcame, we can be sure of our victory, and He is always beside us. His yoke is easy and His burden is light. We can easily carry our cross, when we give Him the first priority every day.
3. Emulate Him, do as He did.
In everything we do, we need to check it we're doing as Jesus would do. What would Jesus do? That's a good question to ask, whenever we need to do something important, or make some important decision. Empty ourselves more of our "self", and fill ourselves more of Jesus.
You want to follow Him at a distance? Or, you want to be close to Him? If you want to be close, you know what it costs ...
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