Will you need to give up everything to follow Jesus?

[Epicurus]

The real question is why would you want to bow down to someone else? Do you think it's right to love someone you've never met over your parents? Who gave you life, the most precious of all gifts? Then raised you with selfless love?

[brakelite]

God will never ask anything of you that would be in your best interest to keep. Nor will He withold from you anything which would be for your benefit.

Giving up everything means you relinquish your own rights and personal ambitions motivated by self interest that God, in His wisdom may recreate you as a new creature with motives and aspirations that center or focus on doing good for others. 

Bottom line...God as your Creator as every conceivable right to do whatever He likes with you. But because He loves you with such a fierce passion He will only take from you that which you offer. He will never impose Himself on you nor coerce you to do anything against your own desires. If you want to carry on in sin, He will allow you to do that, but you will have to face the consequences. If you want to be free from addictionsb bad habits and sin, He will do that also, and the consequence of eternity beyond your imagination. 

[ILiveForGod]

Do you remember the fishermen in the Bible? They left being fishermen on a boat, to follow Jesus and be FISHER OF MEN in the world.

Jesus says leave everything behind, pick up your cross (Faith) and follow me. The Way, The Truth and the Life. We are to deny ourselves to follow Jesus. Because if we don't deny ourselves, he can't teach us and guide us. We want to naturally live for ourselves, OUR goals, OUR dreams, OUR wants, etc...

We need to humble ourselves and seek God's guidance in ALL big decisions that we make. Because he knows what's best for us. Better than we know ourselves. As I mentioned in another thread, Living for Jesus is a Lifestyle. You live it every day. Not just Sunday. Never seek others "opinions". Seek the word of God for your truth in obedience to God. Or Prayer. God bless

It is written...

Luke 9:23King James Version (KJV)

²³ And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

 

Matthew 4:17-20King James Version (KJV)

¹⁷ From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

¹⁸ And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.

¹⁹ And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.

²⁰ And they straightway left their nets, and followed him.

[Benevolent]

Matt 10v34 “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. 36 And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household. 37 Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

This means that, there will be difficult choices we have to make along the way. The life of following Christ is never easy, but worth it.

[patrick12345]

The bible has already said it that seek first the kingdom of God and every other thing will be come to you. The best investment is following Jesus.

[Guest]

On 7/13/2017 at 2:10 AM, theokayman1 said:

Jesus said in Luke 14:33 that you need to give up everything to follow Jesus and in my mind have a relationship with him. Is that true?

Jesus said that to one specific person.  He did so because He already knew the man's heart and his heart was filled with things that he placed before God.  To simplify the answer, you only "have to" give up those things that you value more than your relationship with God or that hinder your relationship to Him.  Wanting to hang on to worldly things at the expense of eternal life is the issue in that passage of Scripture.  It shouldn't ever be read as a directive to all believers.  We only have to give up sin... At least try our best while in our mortal bodies.  The man that Jesus said that to was holding on to his sin- the love of money.

[da_man1974]

On 8/11/2017 at 8:00 AM, Epicurus said:

The real question is why would you want to bow down to someone else? Do you think it's right to love someone you've never met over your parents? Who gave you life, the most precious of all gifts? Then raised you with selfless love?

Isn't it God who gave you  life and raised you with selfless love?  And God says He will make Himself known to all creation.  So although you may never have met Him personally He will make Himself known.

[vlad]

On 7/13/2017 at 9:10 AM, theokayman1 said:

Jesus said in Luke 14:33 that you need to give up everything to follow Jesus and in my mind have a relationship with him. Is that true?

Of course I agree with the figurative meaning of it. And what if we try to understand it literally  just for a change? Jesus said that when he was here on this earth in person and addressed a young man literally and straight. A young man who was rich became very sad. (Mat. 19, 20-24). Suppose everybody gave up everything in 2017, their bank accounts, jobs, dwellings, would that work at the moment, who would they follow literally? As you know the apostles shared everything. It was a kind of Christian communism. May be the conditions for that will appear again some day when people will have to begin from scratch and would have a choice to have the old system of economic values or start a new one. What I am pretty sure of is that there is no market economy in heaven. 

Edited September 17, 2017 by vlad