Word to the Wise
Wednesday, November 5, 2014 - Wednesday in the 31th Week in Ordinary Time
[Phil 2:12-18 and Luke 14:25-33]Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. Which of you wishing to construct a tower does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if there is enough for its completion?...[Luke]
There is a huge building boom occurring in Houston, TX, where I live now. This is vividly brought home to me every day because there is a a very large apartment complex being built right across the street, and several others are nearing completion within a ten minute walk from our priory. When I was a law student many years ago, I had to know something about how these projects are financed! It is an amazingly complex process, and everything brought to that worksite has to be calculated and accounted for even if, to an outsider, it looks like chaos!
Jesus tells us that discipleship may mean "counting the cost." It seems at times we find discipleship too expensive and we go for lesser things in our personal budgets! The Lutheran pastor, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was executed by the Nazis, wrote a classic, THE COST OF DISCIPLESHIP that continues to inspire people to aim for the better choice and not to settle for "cheap grace." We may have to give up certain options in life but we do it because we know the results will be much better for us. Better health may mean dietary choices. Better finances may mean forgoing certain purchases. Can we do the same with a view to eternal life by choosing discipleship now? AMEN