What Following Jesus Will Cost You | Mornings with Mico

Good people, what's going on? My name is Meeko and welcome to my one-on-one time with God. Today we are, we're still, this is Holy Week, like I stated yesterday, and we're just taking some time just diving into just the different postures of the soul throughout the week of Holy Week, whether it's through Jesus' life himself or through his teachings. So the best way I could describe today would be cost. You got to pay the cost to be the, nah, I'm joking, I'm joking, I'm joking. The cost of, actually it's the cost of following Christ and just something that is very key to this walk with God. So we're going to dive into the text here and diving into it, we're in Luke chapter 14, verse 27 and 28. And this section is actually labeled the cost of being a disciple and the text reads, and whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. Suppose one of you wants to build a tower, won't you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? Like I said, real short passage, but give you some quick context. Everywhere Jesus went, right, there are just tons of people, just huge crowds that will follow him. I mean, he's healing the sick and performing miracles and feeding five thousand, so naturally, right? There's just so many people that are following him and he turns around and looks at this crowd and basically is saying, listen, if you're going to follow me, make sure you know that you know what you're signing up for. You know what I'm saying? And this isn't, this isn't a fan club, right? Like Jesus wasn't out trying to recruit fans and this wasn't just to be clear, like this wasn't him trying to just be mean and just, you know, I guess like a warning to like scare people off. This is just him like being quite frank and just being honest. Like I don't, I'm not here to win a popularity contest.

I'm not here for fans like there is a cost that comes with following me and I want you to make a mature decision as you're following me to take that cost into consideration. And it's for me personally, there's a number of ways that this actually comes alive in my real life. The one that I'll share, um, I can actually recall some years ago when, you know, I was, I was following God and, but life was just really just, it just was not going the way that I foresaw it going. And I was just, I found like, if I'm honest, like my prayer life at that time, it kind of just really started to sound more like murmuring and complaining a little bit. And um, I remember one day real sharp, I feel like the Holy Spirit spoke to me and um, sent me to Galatians 2 20. And I'll read it to you. It says, I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in a son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. And what that, what that, what that passage spoke to me right there in that minute is like, listen to me, go, this is what you signed up for when you accepted my salvation and you're, you're, you picked up your cross to follow me. You've been crucified with Christ and it is no longer you who live, but it's Christ that lives in you. Now, the life that you live in the body, you're going to live by faith in the son of God who loved you and gave himself for you. And it's like, let me go. This is what life just looks like right now. Right. And I need you to get on board or don't. Like that's, that's, and, and, and I don't know, that might sound a bit harsh, but that's the way that I heard it y'all. Like that's the way that it spoke to me where it wasn't God coddling me in that moment.

It was very much so though, like the way that I read here in the text where Jesus is just telling them, um, you know, like I don't need fans, like there's going to be a cost associated with following me. Like here, here, he's forewarning them, like, I want you to take that cost into consideration. I think, um, I think in counting the cost, um, something to, to, to, to really, I guess land on to, to, to understand is that in counting the cost, it's not doubt, right? It isn't doubt. It's actually just maturity. It is, it's a maturity, it's a mature faith that doesn't ignore reality. It just sees it clearly and still chooses to follow Jesus. I think, when I think of my own life, I can think of a number of things, right, where as following Christ that it's cost me. It's cost me friendships, it's cost me dreams and desires, things that I would have wanted to do, right, things that I wanted to do with my life. And I don't know, some of those things, it's a process, right, like you don't just automatically die to those things and you're just like, okay, I'm gung-ho for Jesus. Like some of those things, it does take like a process. And God is, you know, His grace is sufficient. You know what I mean? Like He will, He will grace you through that process. But your yes is going to require you dying to some things that you may have not wanted to die to. And if that hasn't been your experience, then either it will be, or maybe you're just not leaning in. I don't know. It could be a hot take. You know what I mean? It might sound a little challenging, but I can assure you that that comes with this walk. I want to leave you with this question. Is there any area of your faith where you've been a fan more than a follower? And what would it look like for you to be more honest about that today? Is there any area of your life where you're like, you know what, God, I'm not, I'm not leaning in the way that, the way that I probably should. And again, not to condemn you, but to just allow this walk with God to sanctify you. And that looks like bringing your real honest self to Him and allowing the Holy Spirit to reveal to you these things. Some of these things you may know, you may know exactly where you're more of a fan than a follower, right? And in some cases you may not know, but that's cool. Cause when you have this prayer time with God and that's when the Holy Spirit begins to reveal these things to you. So I just want to encourage you with that to lean into that today and see what the Holy Spirit says. I'm

going to pray this out. Lord, we don't want to be fair weather fans of you. We don't want to be IG followers of you. We want to literally be followers of you. And we understand that that comes with a cost. We thank you for your grace that, um, is sufficient and that graces us through the process as we die to the, um, whatever it may be that, um, whatever that cost may be, um, that we have to die to in order to walk closer with you. But either way, our answer is yes. Our answer is yes. And we choose you. We ask you to strengthen us and help us to walk more like you, to be more like you proudest in your son, Jesus name. Amen.