Beautifully Broken

So, not that long ago, the class of 2010 graduated high school... and I was in that class. That day was exciting, and I didn't think it would be so life changing. Now my former life, of taking care of Grandmur and going to high school, is over. Everything is changing. Reality is settling in, and it can be quite striking sometimes. Friends are moving away, and I'm staying here, to commit, and make a passion of mine come true- Learning Portuguese and preparing for the future that lies ahead of me in my personal ministry. I never really thought of the cost of being a disciple... I mean, it hit my mind a little bit when I was first called to be a missionary, but it hits harder as you slowly go though the process...

In Luke chapter 14, verses 25 through 35, it reads...

Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple. And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

"Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, saying, 'This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.'

"Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.

"Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out.
"He who has ears to hear, let him hear."

It took me a minute to realize what this was talking about. In Matthew 16:24 Jesus says...

"If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me."

Multiple times in the Gospel Jesus says to Follow Him... but it following Him isn't simply going to church every Sunday... Following him means giving up everything. If Jesus asks you to leave behind your family and friends, your house, money, food, job... if He asked you to leave everything behind except the clothes you had on.. would you honestly do it?

Or would you claim that he's not really calling you to leave everything behind, and just go through the motions of being a Christian, and not really follow Him..

Christianity isn't about making yourself happy, or fulling your own desires. Your focus should be on GOD and Him alone. As Christian, you do not have any rights, you surrendered them, along with your heart, to God when you became a Christian. We, however, do have a new found freedom. Freedom from sin, but to get this, we must surrender totally and completely. Our motive should be to glorify the Father.

Being a Christian means letting Jesus be your Lord and Savior... meaning your His. What a relief this is, that we are not our own!!! What a joy that settles in our hearts.

I challenge you to get out of doing "business as usual" for God.

"To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen."

Jude 1:24-25