Daily Affirmations - Day 7 - The Cost of Obedience - Multiplied Return

Day 7: Multiplied return

The Lord will indeed give what is good

Then a teacher of the law came to [Jesus] and said, “Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go.” Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay His head” (Matthew 8:19-20).

Lord Jesus, You are the Living Word who in the beginning...was with God, was God... who became flesh and made His dwelling among us (John 1:1, 14). John the Baptizer affirmed You as the One whom God has sent [who] speaks the words of God... (John 3:34).

Yet for many, the words You spoke were strange and difficult and unacceptable; and they chose to walk away from Your hard teaching. But others recognized that, hard as they were to the sensibilities of earth, Your words are the words of eternal life (John 6:60-68).

And to those who are willing to accept Your words and follow You, You explain clearly the cost of being Your disciple (Matthew 8:18-22, Luke 14:25-33). You do not conceal from us the requirement to give up everything (Luke 14:33).

Again, this is a hard teaching, for again, our earthly sensibilities resist a level of commitment that seems to go against all we understand and embrace and perceive to be natural, desirable, and good: “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be My disciple. And whoever does not carry their cross and follow Me cannot be My disciple" (Luke 14:26-27).

But those who walk with You know that You are good and wise, and that Your words are not an enticement into evil and unhealthy relationships (James 1:13), but an invitation into a good that surpasses and redeems all the good of this earth that You Yourself have given us. And in Your unfathomable wisdom and grace You make provision for the multiplied return of all that we willingly surrender:

“No one who has left home or wife or brothers or sisters or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this age, and in the age to come eternal life” (Luke 18:28-30).

Lord, how can we begin to count the ways You graciously return on the cost of obedience and surrender— small lunches that fed multitudes, small faith that filled nets to breaking, small seeds that produce great harvests... You gave back to Abraham not just the son he surrendered— but from him, offspring as uncountable as the stars (Genesis 15:15). You gave back to Hannah a house full of children, (1 Samuel 2:21) and to a poor widow ample provision in a season of drought (1 Kings 17:7-24).

Teach us to know You, to trust You (Psalm 9:10), to surrender fully to You, entrusting our father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even [our] own life to the One who will deliver on His unfailing kingdom principle: For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for Me will find it (Matthew 16:25).

Grant us courage, grant us fortitude.

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