Failing to plan is planning to fail!

Luke 14:25-33

25 One day when large groups of people were walking along with him, Jesus turned and told them, 26 "Anyone who comes to me but refuses to let go of father, mother, spouse, children, brothers, sisters--yes, even one's own self!--can't be my disciple. 27 Anyone who won't shoulder his own cross and follow behind me can't be my disciple. 28 "Is there anyone here who, planning to build a new house, doesn't first sit down and figure the cost so you'll know if you can complete it? 29 If you only get the foundation laid and then run out of money, you're going to look pretty foolish. Everyone passing by will poke fun at you: 30 'He started something he couldn't finish.'31 "Or can you imagine a king going into battle against another king without first deciding whether it is possible with his ten thousand troops to face the twenty thousand troops of the other? 32 And if he decides he can't, won't he send an emissary and work out a truce? 33 "Simply put, if you're not willing to take what is dearest to you, whether plans or people, and kiss it good-bye, you can't be my disciple.

Food for thought!

Once Benjamin Franklin said, Failing to plan is planning to fail. What he meant is what Jesus teaches us today when he says, "Is there anyone here who, planning to build a new house, doesn't first sit down and figure the cost so you'll know if you can complete it? If you only get the foundation laid and then run out of money, you're going to look pretty foolish. Everyone passing by will poke fun at you: 'He started something he couldn't finish."'

An unfinished building, just as unrealized life, is always a humiliating thing. And Jesus wants to save us from such humiliating. In his book "How to Succeed", Brian Adams wrote, “Plans are guideposts to success. Success arrives by design; failure by the lack of it. Plans are the guide posts along life’s road to success; without them the road is an unsure and rocky one. Poorly devised plans will never harvest riches. Achievements can be no greater than the undertakings. If your plans are sketchy and your aims low, you can never hope to achieve high rewards."

To develop a workable plan of action, mentally visualize the things you want to accomplish. Jot them down across a sheet of paper, then list the steps necessary to accomplish your plan. When you know what you want to achieve, create a plan for getting there. Once you have a basic plan, follow through with the plan until you achieve your objectives.

Stephen Covey, author of "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People", recommends that we “begin (planning) with the end in mind.” In other words, know that you what to achieve; what you want to be, and then move backwards to square one. Whether it is a special project or a simple daily routine, begin by setting a goal that takes into account the steps needed to reach it.

And once you have set a (noble) goal, don't give up before you achieve it. Or as Jesus put it, be ready for sacrifice anything in order to get it. In other words, if you're not willing to pay the price, then you won't get the prize. There is no prize without a price. Behind everything we want in life, behind every achievement, there's a cost to pay; there's a struggle, a cross. Without the cross there's no salvation; without pain there is no gain. Remember, “failing to plan is planning to fail.” Just as a road map is an indispensable tool for a trip, the cross in whatever forms it comes to us, is an indispensable tool when we travel the journey of life toward our goals.

Did you notice? Jesus does not say, If you have a cross...; he says, Anyone who won't shoulder his own cross and follow behind me can't be my disciple. In other words, Jesus knows that we all have some cross, some struggle, some fight to make before we succeed. Do you know yours?