Are you sure you want to do this?

Now it happened as they journeyed on the road, that someone said to Him, "Lord, I will follow You wherever You go." And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head." Then He said to another, "Follow Me." But he said, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father." Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God." And another also said, "Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house." But Jesus said to him, "No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God." – Luke 9.57-62

Jesus was becoming quite popular at this stage of His ministry. Huge crowds were turning out to see Him do great works and to heal the sick and give sight to the blind and make the lame walk. His message was appealing as He talked about peace and deliverance and the Kingdom of God.

Along the way someone said ‘I’ll go with you Jesus!’

Most of us, I think, would have said ‘great, come on, join the crew!’ We all like to have more people on our team or in our group or part of our church.

But Jesus said, in essence, ‘don’t be so quick to jump on board, are you sure you want to do this? I don’t even have a place to lay my head, are you sure that’s what you want?’ Jesus called another man to follow Him and the man said ‘hold on a second, I need to go take care of some family stuff.’ Jesus said to him ‘somebody else can deal with that, go and preach.’ Another said ‘Lord. I’ll follow you, but let me go and say goodbye.’ Jesus said ‘if you can’t focus on the task you’re not worthy to go.’

Wow, that’s sounds pretty harsh.

But Jesus was making a point. Following Christ was never going to be a lark. It is a serious decision. It is a difficult decision. It is fraught with fears and apprehension. It is no use thinking it is a light decision to be persuaded into with emotional appeals or heart stirring music.

We can get emotional decisions to serve and follow Christ, but what happens when things get tough? What happens when the road is rocky and we stumble and fall and while we are fallen the enemy attacks. If we had been told that following Christ is a bed of roses we are going to despair. Following Him means tough times and hardship, but it leads to great blessing and joy.