Question:
Answer:
Luke 9:23 Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.”
Luke 14:33 “So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.”
These passages, and the ones you mentioned, do not mean that you literally must sell everything, live like a pauper, and leave everything you knew behind. It means that you must make a decision to have Jesus as the number One in your life, to the extent that you will never choose anything else in place of Him. It does not necessarily mean that you must give up everything you have and leave it, but that everything must take a lesser place in your life than Him. It is a matter of priorities; Jesus comes first in everything.
Sometimes God will ask people to leave everything and follow Him, as He did with the disciples, but mostly He asks us to rearrange our priorities, and put Him first. It implies a willingness to leave everything on this earth, in exchange for a place in heaven with Him, for eternity. It seems like a great swap!
I trust that this makes sense to you. God bless!
