Failing to plan is planning to fail!

Luke 14:25-33

25 Now large crowds were traveling with him; and he turned and said to them, 26 “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. 27 Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. 28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, 30 saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31 Or what king, going out to wage war against another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 If he cannot, then, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of peace. 33 So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.

Food for thought!

Once Benjamin Franklin said, "Failing to plan is planning to fail." This is what Jesus teaches us today when he says, "For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it?"

An unfinished building, just as unrealized life, is always a humiliating thing. And Jesus wants to save us from such shame. 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.

Our lives are like a trip we plan to a distant city. We set a destination, map out our route, and start driving. But we should know there will be obstacles ahead. As Jesus put it, be ready for sacrifice before you get to your destination. In other words, if you're not willing to pay the price, then you don't know what you want; there is no prize without price. Behind everything we want in life, behind every achievement, there's a cost to pay; there's a cross. Without the cross there's no salvation, no gain, no victory. 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 to carry. Do you know yours?