“So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:33). When we look up the word forsake we note that it means to “give up something formerly held dear; to renounce; to leave altogether; to abandon.” In the context of this verse we hear our Lord saying that unless we give up all that we have formerly held dear and leave it altogether, we cannot be counted among His followers. Let us look together at what we must forsake if we hope to please the Lord.

I must forsake my church. Jesus said in Matthew 15:13 tells us that every plant which God has not planted shall be rooted up. The Lord promised to build one church (Matthew 16:18), and that is exactly what He did. If we want tobe saved, we must be a part of His church and not “My Church.”
I must forsake my parents. The Lord, in Matthew 10:37, tells us that if we love mother or father more than we love Him we are not worthy of Him. We cannot put anyone or anything before our love and service to the Lord. We must “seek…first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness” (Matthew 6:33), give Him our first-fruits, and not let anyone stand in our way of doing right.
I must forsake the doctrines of men. If we teach for doctrine the commands of men, then we are worshiping the Lord in vain (Matthew 15:9). The Word of the Lord was given to us “for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” so that we might be “completely” furnished with all that we need to do right (II Tim. 3:16–17). If we teach and preach anything else we will stand condemned.
I must forsake all worldliness. John wrote, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (I John 2:15). James said that if we are friends of the world we are the enemy of God (James 4:4). No man can serve two masters (Matthew 6:24). No man can serve God and the world, so we must forsake this world and keep ourselves unspotted from the it (James 1:27).
I must forsake my way. Jeremiah said that the way of man is not in himself and that man could not direct his own steps (Jeremiah 10:23). There is only one way that leads to eternal life, and that Way is the Lord. No man can get to the Father except through Him (John 14:6). If you have not done so, will you not forsake all, and surrender to the Lord before it is too late?

Danny Box