Daily Bible Reading 26th October 2026 // Luke 14:28-33
28 For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31 Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. 33 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.
The subject matter of these verses is clearly 'conditions of discipleship', and the two parables must be understood in relation to what Jesus has said about taking up the cross and following Him. The keynote is: it is folly to begin (in the life of discipleship) without much consideration of what it is going to cost. Only those who are prepared to go through with it can be His disciples. Opinions differ, however, as to what precise meaning we should place on our Lord's words, and three distinct interpretations are given, which are not necessarily exclusive of one another. According to the first interpretation, what Christ means to point out is that no man has adequate resources in himself to engage in discipleship, and that when he really begins to count the cost, this issues in the discovery that he is utterly inadequate and unable to 'build' a life of discipleship or wage a war for the kingdom, and that he must look outside himself for resources with which to do so. Thus he must renounce all self, and cast himself utterly upon Christ, renounce everything - even father, mother and family - that would prevent his dependence on Christ alone. In this respect the parables illustrate the cost of beginning Christian discipleship. This makes very good sense as a general observation. Men are so often determined to be disciples in their own strength. What they do not realise is that this is never sufficient or possible (cf Romans 4:5).