Often, in the excitement of the moment, many people will offer their services and commit to doing things not realizing the cost in time, energy and effort. This excitement soon fades away, and the monotonous toil during heat of day or cold of night will soon cause them to quit.

After teaching, Jesus was confronted by three different men who wanted to follow Jesus. While Jesus journeyed to a place where he could receive some rest and renewal, one came to him and said, "Lord, I will follow you wherever you go." While many in the world today would be excited to hear someone say that, Jesus, who knew the minds and hearts of men, knew what kind of follower this man would be. This one had not considered the cost of being a follower of Jesus.

How often do modern day preachers try to lessen the cost of serving Jesus and leave people the idea that it is all peaches and cream? Yet being a follower of Jesus will cost something, and many are not willing to pay the price.

"Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no where to lay his head," was Jesus' answer to this first man. Perhaps he reminded that man something we all need to be reminded today -- if we would truly be a follower of Jesus, we will have no earthly security.

Jesus says to another, "Follow me." Obviously Jesus saw something in this man that he thought would make him a good disciple. But the man began to make excuses. Let me go and first bury my father." In Jesus' answer to this man, Jesus said, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God." In essence, he says, "Let the world mind itself." He who would follow Jesus must stick with Jesus. The follower of Jesus has no earthly ties keeping him tied down. We must be willing to leave it all to be a follower of Jesus!

Finally, another offers to follow Jesus, but asks leave to go home and bid all in his household farewell. Jesus tells this one that "No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God." When we follow Jesus, it is all or nothing. We can't look back to the world, to our families, to our jobs and see them the same way ever again. Jesus must come first! We cannot have earthly distractions getting in the way of following Jesus.

John Stott says these words about this passage:
"The Christian landscape is strewn with the wreckage of derelict, half-built towers - the ruins of those who began to build and were unable to finish. For thousands of people still ignore Christ's warning and undertake to follow Him without first pausing to reflect on the cost of doing so. The result is the great scandal of Christendom today, so-called 'nominal Christianity'. In countries to which Christian civilization has spread, large numbers of people have covered themselves with a decent, but thin, veneer of Christianity. They have allowed themselves to become somewhat involved; enough to be respectable but not enough to be uncomfortable. Their religion is a great, soft cushion. It protects them from the hard unpleasantness of life, while changing its place and shape to suit their conveniences. No wonder the cynics speak of hypocrites in the church and dismiss religion as escapism."

Jesus says for us to follow him! Have we counted the cost? Are we true disciples, or do we have the "great soft cushion" religion