Transforming Encounters: The 40-Day Challenge (Luke)Sample

In this text, Luke describes Jesus’ encounter with the crowd following him. Most leaders would be very happy to have a crowd follow them - happy because people have recognized their idea and vision.

However, Jesus addresses the crowd with words that still confuse us today, which are the opposite of everything they have heard so far: “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.”

Jesus expects complete dedication from his disciples, which alone can lead to the fullness of a relationship with Christ. Jesus asks us to make a complete separation, internal and external, from everything that surrounds and binds us - in relationships, or in the rush for our own survival.

In following Christ, we can expect pain and suffering, mockery and humiliation, struggle and blows, - everything that Christ experienced. This becomes our cross.

At the end of this text, In the parables, Jesus warns us to carefully assess the risks of the relationships we enter into.

Jesus demands excellence and dedication from his disciples, and continuous progress in our relationship with him, until other relationships, even the most intimate family ones, become a reflection of our primary relationship with Jesus.

Think about the most important relationships in your life and ask yourself how your relationship with Jesus affects your other relationships. Allow Jesus to change them.