It is indeed a blessed thing to follow the Lord Jesus; but many, like the man in our text, want to follow Him from selfish motives, from the hope of gaining some earthly profit and reward. To all such the warning words of our Lord Jesus apply: "The Son of Man hath not where to lay His head." Jesus is poorer than the hunted beasts of the forest or the birds of the air. He does not own a foot of soil, but is a homeless wanderer and stranger in this world. He has no riches to offer His followers; He promises them no high stations of honor, no peaceful days of earthly joy and happiness. To go with Him means to go into poverty, into self-denial, to bear the cross, to suffer and to die with Him. Are you ready to do that?

Alas! many refuse to become like the poor and lowly Jesus in this world; but they that do, oh, how rich and blessed He makes them! For He gives them what transcends all the treasures of this passing world - He gives them Himself with all the riches of His saving truth and grace and comfort and mercy. "And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life." (Matthew 19:29).

In Christ's blessed companionship His followers find the deepest longings of their soul fully and supremely satisfied, find life, true life, and sweet communion with God, and immortality in death. Who, then, would not follow Jesus?

[devotion text by Rev. F. W. Herzberger (1920) -
from the Family Altar - CPH (1957 edition)]
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