05 10 Luke 14.25-35 It is clear from Scripture that we are called to be disciples of Jesus Christ. What does that look like? While books abound on what a disciple should look like and practices of the follower of Christ, Jesus gives two very distinct characteristics of a disciple. Someone asked Jesus what the greatest commandment was and He essentially boiled it down to two – love God with your whole being and love your neighbor as yourself. When it comes to discipleship, we can boil it down to two essential characteristics as well. Jesus lays it out in this passage. He says that we should hate our family and take up our cross. What Jesus meant is that our loyalty our preference should always be to Christ so that in our devotion to Him it would appear as if we hated our family. Jesus is saying that to be a disciple there must be complete commitment to Him, a surrender of our will, ways, and wants for His will, ways, and wants. There should be no hesitation or doubt on our part as to what we would choose. Christ wins every time. Jesus instructs us to consider the cost before we make such an endeavor and illustrates it through two examples. The question remains for us to answer – will we be a disciple of Jesus? Being a convert is not the same as being committed. Which are you?