What Are You Doing With Your Dash?

Big Idea: Jesus calls would-be followers to wholehearted, self-denying loyalty that costs everything yet gains eternal life.

Overview

Opening with the question, “What are you doing with the dash between your dates?”, the speaker reminds hearers that life’s brief span will soon be summed up on a tombstone. Only what is done for Jesus truly lasts, so the central issue is not curiosity about Him but committed discipleship. Working through Luke 14:25-33, the message highlights three stark “cannot be My disciple” statements in which Jesus demands supreme love, daily cross-bearing, and total renunciation. Illustrations from Eric Liddell, Jim Elliot, Reformation martyrs, and a misguided mountaineer press home the need to count the cost. Jesus is not recruiting spectators but servants; the invitation is free, yet the pathway is narrow and costly.

Key Scripture

• Luke 14:25–33 — The foundation of the whole message: Jesus defines the high cost of following Him.
• Luke 9:23 — Clarifying example: discipleship = daily self-denial and personal cross-bearing.
• Luke 13:24 — Supporting warning: the door to life is open, yet narrow—strive to enter.

Main Points

1. Supreme loyalty to Christ (v 26).

• Jesus states bluntly that unless one “hates” father, mother, spouse, children, siblings—even one’s own life—he cannot be His disciple.
• The language is a Semitic way of expressing preference: love for Christ must be so strong that every other affection, though real, seems secondary.
• Illustration: Pilgrim in Bunyan’s story plugging his ears and running from family cries, shouting “Life, life, eternal life!”

2. Carrying one’s own cross (v 27; cf. Luke 9:23).

• First-century listeners knew a condemned man carrying the cross-beam was on a one-way journey to death.
• Discipleship therefore involves daily, continual self-denial, not a single heroic moment.
• Cross-bearing is not petty self-deprivation (e.g., skipping candy) but dying to selfish ambition and rights.

3. Renouncing all possessions (v 33).

• “Give up everything you have” means placing money, career, security, and relationships under Christ’s total control.
• Examples: C. T. Studd donating his fortune; General Booth’s statement, “Jesus Christ has all of me.”
• The issue is heart-attachment, not mere external poverty.

4. Counting the cost and staying salty (vv 28-32, 34-35).

• Two mini-parables (tower builder, warring king) urge careful calculation before starting the journey.
• Half-finished towers and disastrous wars picture people who begin but quit when discipleship bites.
• Salt that loses saltiness—impure deposits from Palestine—shows disciples who refuse costly loyalty become useless for God’s purposes.

Application

The call: Deliberately weigh Jesus’ terms, then surrender everything—affections, agenda, and assets—to follow Him without reserve.

Head — Understand that there is no middle ground: choosing not to follow Christ wholeheartedly is choosing another master.

Heart — Examine what or whom you love most. Ask the Spirit to kindle an affection for Christ that eclipses all rivals.

Hands

1. Identify one attachment (relationship, possession, ambition) that competes with Christ and consciously place it under His lordship this week.
2. Practice daily cross-bearing: begin each morning by praying, “Lord, today I die to myself—lead me.”
3. Read a missionary or martyr biography to inspire costly obedience (e.g., Jim Elliot, Ridley & Latimer).

Reflection Questions

1. If your life were reduced to a dash on a gravestone, what would that dash currently represent?
2. Which of Jesus’ three demands (supreme love, cross-bearing, renunciation) confronts you most sharply, and why?
3. How might family, career, or possessions subtly displace Christ’s first place in your life?
4. When have you started something for God but abandoned it when the cost rose? What did you learn?
5. In practical terms, what would it look like for you to “stay salty” in your context?

Prayer

Lord Jesus, You did not hide the cost of discipleship, and You did not shrink from paying the cost of our salvation. Grant us grace to love You above all, to lift the cross each day, and to hold every gift with open hands. Make us faithful, fruitful, and salty for Your kingdom’s sake, until the day our dash is complete and we see You face to face. Amen.