Read Luke 14:25-33 with your family.

We spend a lot of time talking about God’s call to help people who need our help and what we can do to help them. But we do not spend as much time talking about our plan for how to help, and what we need to have with us in order to help others.

In our story today Jesus was talking about the ‘cost of discipleship’ – how to know if we are prepared to get into the middle of something difficult so we can make a difference, or if we should find other ways to help solve the problem.

Jesus used examples that we would understand today, building a house and going to war. Neither of those are things we start without making sure we have what we need. We do not send people to war without a lot of equipment, and building a home or a tower takes a lot of bricks.

He also tells us that our family might not understand how important this is to us, and that’s okay. Sometimes following Jesus means making choices that are different from our friends and those we love.