Something curious happens just before Jesus begins his longest recorded message in the New Testament—the Sermon on the Mount.
And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when he was seated His disciples came to Him. Then He opened His mouth and taught them.
Matthew 5:1-2 (NIV)
Most celebrities, when surrounded by an adoring public, sit down and start signing autographs, but Jesus climbs a mountain. Why? It could be because he needed to be up higher—for his voice to carry farther—but it says his closest followers climbed with him. So, here’s another explanation: Maybe Christ went up on the mountain to see who was truly committed to follow Him. A legendary college football coach describes this well:
Motivation is simple. You eliminate those who are not motivated.
Lou Holtz
There are other times in the New Testament when Jesus weeded out the unmotivated. One that stands out happens shortly after Christ feeds over 5000 people and then walks on water. The crowd finds him on the other side of the lake and essentially says, “What miracle will you show us now—so we can believe in you?” Really?!
Jesus then explains how He is the bread of life, and that people must trust in His sacrificial death and resurrection to be reconciled to God. The crowd says, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?” And, just like that, the throng become a trickle:
From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.
John 6:66 (NIV)
Kind reader, as Henry Blackaby says, “We can’t stay the way we are and go with God.” A discounted walk with Jesus doesn’t exist. If we truly want to follow him and learn from him, we must trail him up the mountain.
Then he said to them all: ‘If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever want to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.”
Jesus—Luke 9:23-24 (NIV)
Thank you for reading. 🙏❤️ prayers and love.
This post first appeared on Rainer Bantau’s site, The Devotional Guy. Thank you, brother, for asking me to contribute a guest post for your blog.
Davids Daily Dose 
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