<p>14:27 <i>Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me, cannot be my disciple</i>- The Lord taught that unless a man was willing to carry his cross and forsake all that he had, he couldn&rsquo;t be His disciple. And He called them His disciples, even though they clearly didn&rsquo;t perceive the real nature of the cross, nor did they actually leave all that they had but retained some things. The disciples were told to sell what they had (Lk. 12:22,32,33); but it seems they kept their fishing business. After having asked them this, the Lord again had to speak to them about forsaking all that they had (:33). Their claim to have left literally all (Lk. 18:28) appears somewhat exaggerated. Indeed, the parable of the unjust steward being specifically directed at the disciples (Lk. 15:1 cp. 16:1,9), it could appear that they had a special problem with lower-middle-class petty materialism (Lk. 16:9). Likewise Lk. 6 is spoken specially to the disciples, and it has much to say about materialism.<strong>&nbsp;</strong>The Lord was and is very generous to our weak efforts to rise up to His high standards.</p><p>Reflect on a Gospel parallel to see the huge importance of being a disciple of Jesus. In Mt. 10:38 the Lord says that whoever doesn&rsquo;t take up his cross and follow after Him, &ldquo;is not worthy of me&rdquo;. In Lk. 14:27 we have the same words, but concluded with &ldquo;&hellip; the same cannot be my disciple&rdquo;. To be a disciple of the Lord is to be worthy of Him. To seek to walk as He walked, to follow behind Him, is to be worthy of Him. The important thing is to follow, for all our stumblings, but at least to be in the way behind Him.</p><p>Of course we cannot literally take up the Lord's cross. Taking up the cross must therefore refer to an attitude of mind; it is paralleled with forsaking all that we have (Lk. 14:27,33), which is surely a command to be obeyed in our attitudes.</p>