The Cost of Discipleship
Jesus was followed by crowds during much of His ministry. Those who accompanied Him were seeking many different things. Some sought healing from disease, some wished for advice from a "good teacher", and others sought the sort of Messiah who would liberate them from Roman oppression. Jesus on the other hand wanted people to see Him for Who He was - the Son of God. And to follow the Son, there was a risk. So Jesus told them exactly that. “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 . Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple . For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost , whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able