Bible devotionals

“GOD IS WITH ME”

Posted on by Betsy

Every time I go to the hairdresser, I learn something new. The conversation at my salon yesterday revolved around “automatic thoughts”. These are unbidden images or words that flash into your mind in a seemingly random occurrence. One person described having an automatic thought on the way to work as she was driving. She instantly “saw” a big wreck where she watched herself running to a burning car to help. Anyone who has ever driven the Bypass in the Outer Banks on a Saturday in the summer can relate to this sudden image while driving. It’s dangerous out there, folks!

Automatic thoughts can be negative or positive. I find in times of great concentration or stress that my mind will conveniently supply an automatic thought of someplace I’d rather be. Suddenly I’ll flash on walking around the lake in a beautiful town called Celebration in Florida, or seeing a spectacular sunset from my back deck. Those images will creep up without warning, giving me a five-second respite from my work. When automatic thoughts are negative and related to emotional triggers, they can be problematic. Help can be found in working with a cognitive therapist to untangle the auto response. In the case of the car wreck image, it made the person drive more carefully and be alert to other drivers, which is a good thing.

I have always longed for a way to help people develop an automatic thought response that brings the peace, hope and contentment. That is why I began writing these devotionals six years ago. When folks are in a deep hole of despair, the stress of their situation only pulls them farther and farther down. It is in times like these that the automatic thoughts can be most harmful. Sad, hopeless, and despondent thoughts just continue to spiral in times of trouble. I want to be able to help them manufacture a positive automatic response that would focus on thoughts that uplift them and rebuke the darkness.

I often wonder if that was what the Psalmists were doing. The Psalms were written as songs for the journey. They describe great challenges, intense pain, and life threatening situations, but they are balanced with great anticipation of God’s activity and presence. The positive images far outweigh the negative, serving as point-counter-point to the dark. Look at Psalm 23, one of the most beloved Psalms:

Psalm 23 (New International Version)

The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.

He makes me lie down in green pastures,

he leads me beside quiet waters,

he refreshes my soul.

He guides me along the right paths

    for his name’s sake.

Even though I walk

    through the darkest valley,

I will fear no evil,

    for you are with me;

your rod and your staff,

    they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me

    in the presence of my enemies.

You anoint my head with oil;

    my cup overflows.

Surely your goodness and love will follow me

    all the days of my life,

and I will dwell in the house of the Lord

    forever.

David wrote that, and David had trouble. Most of it was a result of his own activity, but he had trouble indeed. And yet in his darkest moment, he forced himself to counter his trouble with a positive auto response and wrote “Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.”

Today, let’s try to create an auto response like David. When the negative thoughts try to intrude, say back to them, “GOD IS WITH ME.” When bad images flash unbidden in your mind, shake them off and say, “GOD IS WITH ME.” If you feel yourself slipping into the deep, stand up and yell, “GOD IS WITH ME.”

Go in peace. God is with you.

Norway

Pounding Sand

Posted on by Betsy

Growing up on the East Coast allowed me to experience the Atlantic Ocean from many vantage points. We were campers, and every summer weekend and the long awaited, blessed two-week vacation (cue the Doxology!) saw us hauling a trailer anywhere from Canada to Florida. But our favorite place was a small campground on the Indian River Bay in Delaware called Sandy Cove. My memories of those days are filled with laughter, sunlight, fresh seafood that we caught ourselves, and my mother.

Most days we piled into the car and drove a few short miles to the ocean. After settling in with umbrellas, chairs, blankets and towels, my mother and I would walk the beach, sometimes for miles. We camped with a group of families, and these private walks were a moment of respite for both of us. We explored, gathered seagull feathers and shells, tickled our toes in the cold water, but mostly we talked.

We planned my college days and my wedding on that beach. We dissected what was wrong with other members of the family … never US, just the rest of the gang. She taught me about life, love, and politics. Every walk was a history lesson as my brilliant mother put the world into context for me. Those moments with her are forever woven into my memory, my personality, and maybe even my DNA.

My mother is gone now. There is no more wisdom to glean, but the part of her that loved the beach and those precious mother-daughter times lives on in me.

Now, I walk with Jesus. I am daily reminded of his promise, “Do not let your heart be troubled, and neither let it be afraid. I will not leave you orphaned.” Losing my parents made me feel like an orphan, but Jesus reminds me that he is always present and has prepared a room for all of us. My parents are there, and Mom is waiting for me to come and pound the sands of heaven with her someday.

John 14 has beautiful words of assurance for all who wait. Jesus was speaking to his disciples, getting them ready for his death and departure. Of all that is precious in that chapter, this might just be my favorite part:

John 14 (New International Version)

“Peace I leave with you. MY peace I give to you, I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and neither let them be afraid.”

Where is Jesus speaking peace into your life today? Don’t be troubled. Jesus is here.

Walk With Me

Trampling the Needy

Posted on by Betsy

Today’s lectionary passage is a bleak and resonant warning about neglecting the poor and need in our communities. Amos was called to rebuke and prophecy against this societal downfall. He was an 8th Century prophet who had been a fig farmer and shepherd before his calling. Israel had split into the Northern (Israel) and Southern (Judah) kingdoms by this time and he warned the people of the impending fall and destruction that was about to occur to both. He called out the ungodly practices that the people were engaging in with a denouncement of the breaking of God’s Law and God’s will.

In this passage, God’s instructions in Deuteronomy to take care of the poor and needy are specifically addressed. The people had become callous to those who lived on the fringes of society, whining and complaining about not being able to make money during the New Moon festival or the Sabbath. Their greed extended into cheating people by changing the weight of ephahs and shekels, deceiving folks with false balances on the scales.

Amos 8 (Common English Bible)

    Hear this, you who trample on the needy and destroy
        the poor of the land, 5 saying,
    “When will the new moon
        be over so that we may sell grain,
        and the Sabbath
        so that we may offer wheat for sale,
        make the ephah smaller, enlarge the shekel,
        and deceive with false balances,
6         in order to buy the needy for silver
        and the helpless for sandals,
        and sell garbage as grain?”

7     The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob:
        Surely I will never forget what they have done.

The message is clear: God watches, God sees. And God will not forget. Indeed, both Israel and Judah fell to the Assyrians and the Babylonians, and many generations passed before they were restored to the land.

Now before we think more highly of ourselves than we should (to quote Paul), take a look again at this passage in The Message translation and see if any of it fits today’s society:

Listen to this, you who walk all over the weak,
    you who treat poor people as less than nothing,
Who say, “When’s my next paycheck coming
    so I can go out and live it up?
How long till the weekend
    when I can go out and have a good time?”
Who give little and take much,
    and never do an honest day’s work.
You exploit the poor, using them—
    and then, when they’re used up, you discard them.

7-8 God swears against the arrogance of Jacob:
    “I’m keeping track of their every last sin.”

Does God swear against us as well? Are we guilty of focusing on our Friday paycheck for our weekend indulgence while we ignore the poor around us? Are we as a people walking all over the weak and using up the poor just to discard them? What does this say about migrant workers, people on welfare, our funding of Medicare, and our care of the vulnerable?

God’s word is clear. He is keeping track.

Osprey Watching Over Colington

Pulitzer White

Posted on by Betsy

A few years ago my husband and I were on a trip in Florida, visiting a very posh hotel. We were having dinner there one night and as we made our way across the ornate lobby, I realized that the Florida air-conditioning was close to unbearable and somehow I had forgotten to pack my parka. We passed one of those fancy boutique shops with fancy boutique clothing and my husband said, “Why don’t we just go in here and buy you a sweater or something?” I looked at the selection of things in the window and surmised we couldn’t even afford to walk over the threshold of the store, but he insisted. Lo and behold, there was a sales rack of Lilly Pulitzer things, and further lo and beholding, there was a perfect white sweater with pockets. (And all girls know how amazing it is to have pockets!) Still protesting, I gave in and let him buy it, figuring it would be a good travel sweater, and I would get lots of use out of it, because, you know … pockets. I suppose he considered it a bargain just to not have to listen to me whine about freezing for the rest of the evening.

A few months later I was taking said white sweater out of my suitcase after another trip and was horrified to discover that a blue ball point pen had dumped its contents all over the pure while Lilly. I was distraught. After many washings with stain sprays applied, all I had managed to do was tune the dark blue ink into medium blue ink. This is why I shouldn’t have nice things.

My husband kept suggesting I just bleach the whole thing since it was all white. Bleach Lilly Pulitzer??? Are you kidding? The first rule of Lilly is “thou shalt not bleach my fine apparel!” But I obviously couldn’t wear it with ink stains, so I washed it in bleach. It came out white as snow.

Today we are reading Psalm 51, the famous and beautiful psalm of penitence written by King David after Nathan had confronted him about his adulterous affair with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband Uriah. David was agonized by his sins, and the power and wealth of his kingdom could not touch the depth of despair that his depravity brought. Only God could help.

Psalm 51 (Common English Bible)

 Have mercy on me, God, according to your faithful love!
    Wipe away my wrongdoings according to your great compassion!
2 Wash me completely clean of my guilt;
    purify me from my sin!
3 Because I know my wrongdoings,
    my sin is always right in front of me.
4 I’ve sinned against you—you alone.
    I’ve committed evil in your sight.
That’s why you are justified when you render your verdict,
    completely correct when you issue your judgment.
5 Yes, I was born in guilt, in sin,
    from the moment my mother conceived me.
6 And yes, you want truth in the most hidden places;
    you teach me wisdom in the most secret space.

David reminds us that by seeking God every day, by praying, worshipping, studying, and serving, we can encounter God’s wisdom and truth in the most secret space of our spirit. We, too, are invited to “come clean” through confession and repentance and ask God to wash us whiter than a bleached sweater. Only God can restore our joy.

7 Purify me with hyssop and I will be clean;
    wash me and I will be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and celebration again;
    let the bones you crushed rejoice once more.
9 Hide your face from my sins;
    wipe away all my guilty deeds!

Is today the day you will submit to God’s will? Do you need to be washed by the refining forgiveness that God offers you? May we pray with David this morning:
10 Create a clean heart for me, God;
    put a new, faithful spirit deep inside me!

Amen.

SnOBX

Your People

Posted on by Betsy

You know the kids have been especially bad when you come home from work and your spouse says, “You won’t believe what your daughter did today!” Not “our” but “your.” This verbal distancing of parent from child is always an indicator that punishment must be meted out. A mom recently told me that she came home from work to discover that her recently potty-trained three year old had taken a plastic bowl into her closet to practice going potty and painted the walls with the results. That is a scenario where nobody wants to claim this kid! Gross!

Today’s Scripture starts the same way. After their miraculous delivery from slavery in Egypt, the people of Israel grew bored and discontent. When Moses had a prolonged stay up on the mountain to receive the ten commandments, they fashioned for themselves a golden calf idol to worship.

God had had enough. He commanded Moses to go down and straighten things out with “your people.” Not my people, your people.

Exodus 32 (Contemporary English Version)

7 And the Lord said to Moses, “Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. 8 They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them. They have made for themselves a golden calf and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it and said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’”9 And the Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. 10 Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them, in order that I may make a great nation of you.”

God threatens to destroy them and let Moses remain so that he can start over again, much like he did with Noah. Every parent knows the burning hot response of a threat they have no intention of carrying out, but sometimes it provides relief to express it anyway.

11 But Moses implored the Lord his God and said, “O Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? 12 Why should the Egyptians say, ‘With evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your burning anger and relent from this disaster against your people. 13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.’” 14 And the Lord relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people.

Notice that Moses quickly intervenes on behalf of his people. He appeals to God’s sense of compassion and even a bit to his ego, making the case that the Egyptians would then get to say, “See! God only brought them out to destroy them anyway!” Moses’ brief intercessory prayer on their behalf was a prayer of strength if not length. Sometimes God will put us into a position of intervention to see if we will pray in that strength. This is what happened to Moses. God put him in this position and Moses reflected God’s love and mercy back to God, reminding him of his promise to make Israel as proliferate as the stars of heaven, living in the land of plenty. And so God did not act on his threat.

Are you in a position of intervention right now? Are you praying in the might and power of the Holy Spirit for something to happen? Don’t back down. Don’t give up! Remind God, and yourself, of God’s love, mercy, and compassion. God’s promises are forever.

Orbs by Becca Ziegler

What’s Your Sign?

Posted on by Betsy

There is a sign that you sometimes see being held up in large gatherings. I’m sure you’ve seen this sign at major sporting events and professional wrestling venues. You might even spot it at a public community event, a graduation, or even a protest gathering. I see it frequently at the corner of Colington Road and the bypass, being held up by a very enthusiastic member of “Team Jesus.” This particular sign stands in opposition to the signs that groups like the Westboro Baptist “Church” hold up. You remember that group: they used their 1st Amendment right to free speech to burn flags, show up to soldiers’ funerals to spread the hate message “Thank God for Dead Soldiers,” and display other violent homophobic and antisemitic rhetoric. What is the sign that stands in opposition to this hate? It is a sign about the ultimate love we will ever know. John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, he gave his one and only Son, that whosoever believes in himself shall not perish but have eternal life.”

Let’s take a look at the full passage today.

John 3: 16-17 (Contemporary English Version)

16 God loved the people of this world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who has faith in him will have eternal life and never really die. 17 God did not send his Son into the world to condemn its people. He sent him to save them!

Jesus said this in response to Nicodemus, a teacher and ruler of the Jews. He was a Pharisee and part of the Sanhedrin who was impressed by Jesus’ signs, i.e. miraculous acts, and sought Jesus out at night to learn more. It is notable that this exchange happened in the darkness. My guess is that Nicodemus feared the judgment and condemnation of his fellow Pharisees and couldn’t seek Jesus out in the light of day. But he acknowledged that Jesus was from God based on his signs. Jesus immediately responded that no one would see the kingdom of God unless they are “born again.” That one sentence shattered centuries of Jewish expectation. Jews had always believed that being born of Abraham’s lineage, their birthright would grant them automatic entrance to the Kingdom of God. But Jesus now taught that the Law, their heritage, their old birth, and their racial identification would not be a free pass into Eternity. Instead, Jesus continued, only those born anew by water and the spirit would see God.

Then he went on to shock Nicodemus further by asserting that in fact, God loved the whole world (not just Israel) enough to send his only begotten Son for their salvation. Everyone is offered the hope, rescue, and healing of Christ’s salvation equally. Salvation, not condemnation, is what Jesus brings. Hope and refuge are his gifts, offered to all. The only condemnation the world faces is the self-condemnation of those who refuse to believe and prefer to walk in the darkness.

If only those who hold up hate signs would just read the rest of the Scripture. If only those who use religion to justify hate and condemn others would just read the rest of the Scripture!

What’s your sign? Is it a sign of open acceptance and love? Is it a sign of hope? Is it a sign that you read the rest of the Scripture?

May we be a people of John 3:17 in everything we do, say, paint onto cardboard, and post.

Via Facebook

Magic 8 Ball

Posted on by Betsy

False.

No.

True.

Yes.

These were the last four words of a New York Times game I play called Connections. The game starts with 16 words, and the challenge is to find four sets of four words that are connected somehow. I usually get the first two sets pretty easily but often struggle with the third. Obviously if you solve the third set, the last set is revealed. So imagine my joy when not only did I get down to the last set, but I actually knew what the connection was!! Look again at the list. Obviously the connection is “Magic 8 Ball answers.” Right?

Nope. These are binary question options. Binary question are closed-ended questions that restrict the possible answers to two distinct, often opposing choices. I obviously spent too much time in my childhood playing Magic 8 Ball.

Do we ever use God like a Magic 8 Ball, shaking him up and turning him over to see what the answer is? Have you ever prayed about something and then flipped your Bible open and demanded the answer be on the page where it falls? Are you guilty of turning God back over again in hopes of getting a new/better/different/more acceptable answer to your problem? I think a lot of us are guilty of this. When a decision or issue confronts us, we turn to me-directed rather than God-directed solutions. I recently had to have a minor surgery that I was not looking forward to. I was sure I didn’t have the time for a two-week recovery. In the meantime, a church member has been actively dying for months now. I reasoned that if I ended up having to do the funeral on or near surgery day, that was God’s way of telling me not to have the surgery. Can you believe such nonsense? By the way, I had the surgery, and the church member is still chugging along. Foolish me! But how easy it is to slip into these kind of negotiations with ourselves.

God desires to have a deep relationship with him where we don’t have to guess about his purpose for our lives. He provides us with the Scriptures for transformation, not random information. He overrides our desire to know outcomes with an invitation to simply trust that he knows the outcome and will be with us

Proverbs 3 (New International Version)

Trust in the Lord with all your heart
    and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways submit to him,
    and he will make your paths straight.

Are you desperately trying to figure something out? Are you negotiating or testing God to skew the answer to your liking? You can trust him to show you the way. When we read Scripture and pray with submissive hearts, God is revealed. Try it and see.

Free Bird by Kathy Schumacher

Sheer Silliness

Posted on by Betsy

Isn’t it amazing how many experts there are in the world today? Gosh, all you have to do is open TikTok, X, or Facebook and voila, there they are. Everyone now has a PHD in something, it seems. You can find all kinds of nutritional, medical, and health advice. Not to mention all the online science experts who pontificate their opinions on vaccines, weather, climate change, etc. Political, financial, and global experts abound and have lots of great information to share on these platforms.

I hope you are reading the sarcasm in my tone. Based on what I am seeing, this new faux brand of PHD must stand for Pretty Horrible Disinformation. A friend recently told me that the Canadian wildfires were deliberately set by an all-female firefighter crew. She knew that because she saw it on TikTok. According to the Pew Research Center, about 52% of adults who use TikTok get all of their news there. TikTok! Lord, have mercy.

Paul wrote about the sheer silliness of the (good) news to those who were rejecting it. Christ dying on the cross for the salvation of the world was unacceptable to the supposedly wise people. God used their preconceived ideas to turn their conventional wisdom upside down and the so-called experts in the Jewish and Greek communities were exposed as fake news readers.

1 Corinthians 1 (The Message)

18-21 The Message that points to Christ on the Cross seems like sheer silliness to those hellbent on destruction, but for those on the way of salvation it makes perfect sense. This is the way God works, and most powerfully as it turns out. It’s written,

I’ll turn conventional wisdom on its head,
I’ll expose so-called experts as shams.

So where can you find someone truly wise, truly educated, truly intelligent in this day and age? Hasn’t God exposed it all as pretentious nonsense? Since the world in all its fancy wisdom never had a clue when it came to knowing God, God in his wisdom took delight in using what the world considered stupid—preaching, of all things!—to bring those who trust him into the way of salvation.

Don’t look to the pulpit here for “preaching.” What Paul is saying is that we are all called to share the wisdom of God in our testimony. We are all responsible for sharing the truth of Christ-crucified with everyone we meet. You are the news anchor of the Good News and are meant to be broadcasting it every night. You, my friend, are the preacher, called to bring others into the only way of salvation: Jesus Christ.

22-25 While Jews clamor for miraculous demonstrations and Greeks go in for philosophical wisdom, we go right on proclaiming Christ, the Crucified. Jews treat this like an anti-miracle—and Greeks pass it off as absurd. But to us who are personally called by God himself—both Jews and Greeks—Christ is God’s ultimate miracle and wisdom all wrapped up in one. Human wisdom is so cheap, so impotent, next to the seeming absurdity of God. Human strength can’t begin to compete with God’s “weakness.”

So let us go right on proclaiming Christ, the Crucified to the world. People will accuse us of being absurd. But human wisdom is nothing compared to what we know to be true about the Resurrection. In God’s wisdom, we will find strength to combat the silliness of the world. Preach on, my friends!

Erin’s Might by Michelle Robertson

Flawed Clay

Posted on by Betsy

There is a potter in Wanchese, N.C. named Bonnie who has magical hands. I have visited her shop many times, from all the way back to when we used to come here from Georgia for vacation. I purchased a small plate and matching wine cup in a pattern she called “Outer Banks” that featured sea oats and dune grass. I used it in my office as a personal communion set for when I was serving communion at small events such as end-of-year Bible Study celebrations, staff communions, and women’s retreats. The senior pastor I served with liked it so much, he had me commission her to make six sets for the church.

One year when we were visiting, Bonnie had the showroom door open to the shop area where she was throwing clay onto her spinning wheel as she talked about how to make pots and such. My daughters were fascinated. It was amazing to see an unattractive lump of sticky dirt be transformed into an elegant and useful fruit bowl.

Her work always made me think of the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah. You may be familiar with this passage, as it gives us a familiar analogy of God being the potter and people being the clay.

Jeremiah 18 (Common English Bible)

18 Jeremiah received the Lord’s word: 2 Go down to the potter’s house, and I’ll give you instructions about what to do there. 3 So I went down to the potter’s house; he was working on the potter’s wheel. 4 But the piece he was making was flawed while still in his hands, so the potter started on another, as seemed best to him.

Let’s pause there to examine the beauty of that moment. The potter was on the wheel, working with what seemed to be uncooperative clay. The piece was flawed, so the potter took action. He remade the piece while it was still in his hands. Indeed, as long as we remain in God’s hands, he is able to remake us and help us start over.

5 Then the Lord’s word came to me: 6 House of Israel, can’t I deal with you like this potter, declares the Lord? Like clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in mine, house of Israel! 7 At any time I may announce that I will dig up, pull down, and destroy a nation or kingdom; 8 but if that nation I warned turns from its evil, then I’ll relent and not carry out the harm I intended for it. 9 At the same time, I may announce that I will build and plant a nation or kingdom;10 but if that nation displeases and disobeys me, then I’ll relent and not carry out the good I intended for it. 11 Now say to the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem: This is what the Lord says: I am a potter preparing a disaster for you; I’m working out a plan against you. So each one of you, turn from your evil ways; reform your ways and your actions.

In this section, we see that God is able to both judge and show mercy. He makes it very clear that the flaws and marring of the people that they brought on due to their apostasy were completely their choice. So is the next step: It is up to them to return or get destroyed. The potter has the opportunity to re-mould the clay or throw it away all together. He promises to relent from bringing down harm if they will stop doing evil and obey him. It is their choice.

It is our choice as well. God desires to make us into a people of courage, beauty, refinement, and blessing. We can be these things if we allow him to mould us into righteousness. As the old hymn goes, we can do this by waiting, yielding, and staying still long enough for God to shape us into the people were are meant to be.

Have Thine own way, Lord,
  Have Thine own way;
Thou art the Potter,
  I am the clay.
Mould me and make me
  After Thy will,
While I am waiting,
  Yielded and still. (United Methodist Hymnal #382)

Are you ready to allow God to have his own way with your life?

Wanchese Pottery Chalice and Paten

Estimated Costs

Posted on by Betsy

One of my daughters is building an addition to her house. The twins are finally old enough to separate, and Nana and Papa need a guest room that doesn’t involve stepping on Legos and maneuvering around a large kitchen play set and train table to get to their suitcases when they visit. We all sat down happily and talked with the builder about the specifics of this two-story addition. After drawings were completed, costs were estimated and then re-estimated, materials were ordered, and a very tricky electrical box was approved by the city to be moved, we are almost finished. The foundation was poured months ago and we just can’t wait for the result. No more sleeping in the play room!

I can’t imagine taking on even a small building project like this one without a lot of pre-planning, can you? I mean, how could you even know if the vision for more space was even possible without all of the measurements and calculations? Every good project begins with a serious sit down where costs are estimated.

Jesus used this same analogy when he talked to his large crowd of followers about calculating the cost of following him. You may be surprised at some of the language he used:

Luke 14 (Common English Bible)

25 Large crowds were traveling with Jesus. Turning to them, he said, 26 “Whoever comes to me and doesn’t hate father and mother, spouse and children, and brothers and sisters—yes, even one’s own life—cannot be my disciple. 27 Whoever doesn’t carry their own cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

Jesus was clear that everyone is invited to accept God’s invitation to come to him. But becoming a disciple of Jesus involved a different cost. Jesus had built his legacy and his ministry on redefining love and was audacious enough to suggest the being a disciple meant hating your former life. You couldn’t have allegiance to anything before your allegiance to Christ if you were willing to become his student-learner.

Every single hearer of this would have immediately understood the image of carrying your own cross. They had witnessed multiple crucifixions and watched wretched, beaten down criminals dragging their crosses to their crucifixions. Carrying your cross leads to humiliation, pain, and death. Before a man was hung on his cross, a cross was hung on him.

28 “If one of you wanted to build a tower, wouldn’t you first sit down and calculate the cost, to determine whether you have enough money to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when you have laid the foundation but couldn’t finish the tower, all who see it will begin to belittle you. 30 They will say, ‘Here’s the person who began construction and couldn’t complete it!’ 31 Or what king would go to war against another king without first sitting down to consider whether his ten thousand soldiers could go up against the twenty thousand coming against him? 32 And if he didn’t think he could win, he would send a representative to discuss terms of peace while his enemy was still a long way off. 33 In the same way, none of you who are unwilling to give up all of your possessions can be my disciple.

Jesus’ stern words here leave no room for interpretation. Each of us bears a different cross but bear it we must. And all of us must abandon our personal seeking and striving for whatever had charmed us previously in order to walk this way with Jesus. Jesus instructs us to sit down and calculate the costs.

Remember that as he said these words, he was walking to Jerusalem toward his crucifixion. The crowd thought he was walking toward his new empire, but he knew the way he was going and the cost he would pay there.

The building of Christ’s kingdom is the work of Christ’s disciples. And like every building project, the cost usually comes in higher than originally anticipated. Jesus is calling! What price are you willing to pay?

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