New Testament in a Year

Conditions To Be a Disciple^[a]

²⁵ Renunciation of Everything for Jesus.^[b] Great crowds were accompanying Jesus on his journey, and he turned to them and said, ²⁶ “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother,^[c] wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. ²⁷ Whoever does not carry his own cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

^28 [d]“Which one of you, intending to build a tower, would not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has sufficient funds for its completion? ²⁹ Otherwise, if he has laid the foundation and then finds himself unable to finish the work, all who see it will ridicule him, saying, ³⁰ ‘There goes the man who started to build but was unable to complete the work.’

³¹ “Or what king marching into battle against another king will not first sit down and consider whether with ten thousand soldiers he can defeat the enemy coming to oppose him with twenty thousand? ³² If he cannot, then, while the enemy is still a long distance away, he will send a delegation to ask for terms of peace. ³³ In the same way, any one of you who does not renounce all of his possessions cannot be my disciple.

³⁴ The Simile of Salt.^[e]“Salt is good. But if salt loses its taste, what can be done to make it salty once again? ³⁵ It is fit neither for the soil nor for the dungheap. Thus, it can only be thrown away. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”