The would-be disciple in Luke 9 was like many would-be disciples today! If a preacher comes promising a solution to life’s problems - "this world and heaven too" - they are ready to sign on with Jesus. But speak of hardships and physical deprivations, and their enthusiasm withers. Such "followers" do not follow Jesus to the end, and so they are not saved.

Eight hundred years before Christ's day the prophet Elijah was led to enlist Elisha as his fellow worker and successor. He found Elisha plowing, went to him, and threw his mantle over him. Elisha immediately understood that this was Elijah's way of calling him to service, so he ran after Elijah calling, "Let me kiss my father and mother good-bye, and then I will come with you." Elijah feigned indifference. "Go back," he said. "What have I done to you?"

If you are having trouble with your family as a result of your attempt to follow Jesus, do not despair. Count it a temporary thing. You must follow Jesus regardless of what your family may say or do, but reason that the very fact that God has called you is an encouragement to think that he may also call them. As Charles Haddon Spurgeon once said, you may be the "spiritual decoy" to bring them into "the gospel net."