[Steve Myers] When I was a kid and my brother wanted to play a game, he'd always say, "Hey! Are you all in to this?" That meant I've given it everything, and I'm going to try my very best. Well, you know, in a way our calling is the same way. Are we all in?

Luke chapter 14 describes that amazing call that we have. Christ says, are you all in? Notice the way He puts it, "If anyone comes to me and doesn't hate his father and mother, wife, and children, brothers and sisters, and yes, his own life also, he cannot be my disciple" (Luke 14:25-27). Boy, you talk about being all in. That's everything. Now, we know that word doesn't mean actually to hate mom and dad or brothers or sisters or kids. It means to love them less, that in other words we've got to put God first. We've got to be all in when it comes to putting God first and foremost in our life.

In fact, He goes on and He gives a couple of examples of how dedicated, how committed we actually have to be. He starts with the example of building a tower. If you were to build a tower, you better have all the materials you need. You better count the cost is what He says in verse 28 to make sure you've got enough to finish. Are you all in to this? He says you've got to be. Or if you're going to go to war, He says if you've got 10,000 in your army, are you ready to march against 20,000 enemy? He says that's all in (Luke 14:28-33).

That's taking this calling seriously and that's the kind of calling that we have, that we better have the commitment, we better have the dedication, we better have the resolve that we have what it takes to finish the calling that God's given to us. So God tells us: be all in. Now, there's a little bit more to this story, and we'll talk about that in a future BT Daily.

We'll see you next time.