Thought For Today: “Jesus’s Not So Popular Message”

Jesus was not about winning friends and influencing people. He never scaled down the message, or what it meant to be a disciple, just to have larger crowds and greater attendance.

Jesus said to those wishing to follow,

“Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head…Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God…No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:57-62)

Being a disciple is more than merely reciting a creed or stating belief. Jesus made sure that those who follow Him understood the costs.

“If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” (Luke 9:23)

Jesus wanted to make sure that those who would be His followers be willing to live lives of sacrifice, to be living sacrifices in sacrificial service to God’s kingdom.

Jesus wasn’t trying to garner popular support; rather He was after men and women who would be found trustworthy in times of crisis, and who would be unwavering in their devotion to God.

Therefore, Jesus’s message of the good news isn’t that we’ll have lives of ease, but lives that are significant for God’s kingdom.