The Cost of Following Jesus

²⁵ Now^(A) great crowds were traveling with him. So he turned and said to them, ²⁶ “If anyone comes to me^(B) and does not hate^(C) his own father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, and even his own life—he cannot be my disciple. ²⁷ Whoever does not bear his own cross^(D) and come after me cannot be my disciple.

²⁸ “For which of you, wanting to build a tower, doesn’t first sit down and calculate the cost^(E) to see if he has enough to complete it? ²⁹ Otherwise, after he has laid the foundation and cannot finish it, all the onlookers will begin to ridicule him, ³⁰ saying, ‘This man started to build and wasn’t able to finish.’

³¹ “Or what king, going to war against another king, will not first sit down and decide if he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? ³² If not, while the other is still far off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. ³³ In the same way, therefore, every one of you who does not renounce^[a] all his possessions^(F) cannot be my disciple.

³⁴ “Now,^(G) salt^(H) is good, but if salt should lose its taste, how will it be made salty? ³⁵ It isn’t fit for the soil or for the manure pile; they throw it out. Let anyone who has ears to hear listen.”^(I)

¹⁴ We know that we have passed from death to life because we love our brothers and sisters. The one who does not love remains in death.^{(A) 15} Everyone who hates his brother or sister^(B) is a murderer,^(C) and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him. ¹⁶ This is how we have come to know love: He laid down his life^(D) for us.^(E) We should also lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.^{(F) 17} If anyone has this world’s goods^(G) and sees a fellow believer^[a] in need^(H) but withholds compassion^(I) from him—how does God’s love reside in him?^{(J) 18} Little children, let us not love in word or speech, but in action and in truth.^(K)