Jeus said, "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? ...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?...In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple." (Luke 14:28-33)
There once was a beggar who sat on the streets in India, holding out his bowl all day long in hopes that those passing by might drop a few grains of rice in it. Once day as he sat in the blazing sun he realized that he only had 8 grains of rice in his bowl; not nearly enough for the smallest meal. How would he survive?
Looking up he saw a great procession coming down the street led by the Prince on his elephant. The beggar began to have hope. "I will cry out to the Prince", he thought. "Surely he will take pity on me and grant me enough to fill my bowl!"
As the Prince reached the spot where the beggar sat he cried out, "Oh Prince! Have pity on me for I am poor and in need!" The Prince got down from his elephant and asked the man how many grains of rice he had. "I only have 8 grains, your Highness", replied the beggar, thinking the Prince would take pity on him. Instead the Prince said, "Give me some of your rice." With heavy heart the beggar held out his bowl and told the Prince to take half. The Prince reached into his bowl, took the 4 grains of rice and got back on his elephant to continue the procession.
As the Prince left, the beggar was crestfallen. "If only I had not asked him to take pity on me. If only I had kept silent. This has cost me too much. How will I make it through another day?" As he got up to make his way back to his home he glanced in his bowl. There in place of the 4 grains of rice the Prince had taken were 4 bars of gold!
"Oh", thought the beggar, "if only I had given it all to the prince!"
Jesus said, "If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Me will save it. (Luke 9:23, 24)
I imagine Jesus' listeners had a very visual image in their minds when He spoke these words to them. After all, there were hundreds of crucifixions happening each year. The person condemned to death would walk down the street carrying the crossbeam to the place where he would hang to die. How shocking then for Jesus to say to them: "...take up your cross." It was a very graphic picture of death they had seen many times. Yet these words about losing my life for the Lord also brings this verse to mind:
"Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints." (Psalm 116:15)
The psalmist of course is speaking of physical death; but in some sense I believe we might also say: "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death-to-self of His saints."
How often am I like that beggar, holding 1/2 back; how much have I forfeited by not offering my all to the Prince?
It is, after all, a costly discipleship He calls us to.
