Johnny the Baptist

This morning, someone emailed me this story.

Johnny's mother looked out the window and noticed him "playing church" with their cat. He had the cat sitting quietly and he was preaching to it. She smiled and went about her work.

Later, she heard loud meowing and hissing and ran back to the open window to see Johnny baptizing the cat in a tub of water. She called out, "Johnny, stop that! The cat is afraid of water!" Johnny looked up at her and said, "He should have thought about that before he joined my church."

Well, “Johnny the Baptist” made a great point regarding church membership. The responsibilities associated with being a church member are to be taken seriously. However, ultimately, our focus should be on the cost of discipleship. Jesus challenged us all to evaluate the cost of being His follower. He said, “And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple (Luke 14:27, NKJV).” We cannot be true followers of Jesus without making sacrifices.

Jesus illustrated this point by presenting a rhetorical question. He referenced common sense when he asked, “For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it—lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish’(Luke 14:28-30, NKJV)?”

Jesus used this simple truth to illustrate the point that we are to fully account for, and be prepared to give, what it takes to be a disciple of Christ.

God has blessed FBC in the past month with increased attendance and giving. Yet, many hurting people live in our area, state, and world who need to be impacted by the love of Jesus. May none of use be satisfied with just being church members. May we all seek to be true disciples of Christ who are willing to do whatever it takes to impact our culture.