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KNOWING JESUS CHRIST AS LORD By Larry Kreider Day 3: The Cost of Commitment What does it mean to be totally committed to Jesus? There is an old story about a chicken and a pig walking down the road and passing some hungry-looking men. The chicken said to the pig, "Why don''t we give them a good breakfast of eggs and ham?" "That's easy for you to say," replied the pig. "For you that's only a sacrifice, but for me it's total commitment." The pig would have to die to give those men breakfast. The same is true of Christians - we must literally die to our own desires and give our lives to Jesus because He gave His life for us. Luke 14:26 says, "If anyone comes to Me and does not his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple." The difference between our love for God and our love for even our dearest family members is as great as the difference between love and . We are commanded to love all men and our neighbors as ourselves, but when we compare that love to the love we are to have for God, there is no comparison. It is like opposites: love and . A Jewish woman came to our house one day and as we talked with her, she accepted Jesus as her Lord and Savior. As a result, her family refused to talk to her for years and acted as though she fell off the face of the earth. Her family rejected her and many of her friends rejected her. She understood what it meant to have Jesus as the Lord and Ruler of her life. She had become a bond salve to Christ! Charles Finney, who lived about 200 years ago, was an evangelist who preached to multitudes, among them, students on college campuses. After his a survey was taken which revealed that 80% (or 8 out of 10) of those who had made a commitment to Jesus in those campus "crusades," were living for God and were victorious in their Christian lives a few years later. Today, in many crusades, only about two percent who respond to an altar call to give their lives to Jesus are living in a vital relationship with Jesus a few years later. Finney would preach to students and then tell them to go to lunch and come back after lunch if they really wanted to repent and get right with God. He was telling them to count the cost and make sure they knew what they were doing. When they did repent, they were not making a flippant emotional decision. 
QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER: The Cost of Commitment: Read Luke 14:26. What does it mean to family members, including our own lives? What is the difference between commitment and sacrifice? Have you given yourself completely to Jesus Christ? Explain. _________________________________________________ _________________________________________________ _________________________________________________ _________________________________________________ _________________________________________________
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