And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.
While I was in high school, the story of lives taken by two students in a high school shook my soul. The targeted students were athletes and believers in Jesus. Asked to deny Jesus, those who did not were executed. This story shook me to my core. As an athlete and a believer in Jesus, I wondered if I would have denied my Lord in such a circumstance.
The tragic and painful event forced me to look into my own devotion to the Lord. Very easily I could have been one forced to choose life on earth by denial, or life in eternity by proclaiming the name of Jesus. My dad had been offered a job in that town years prior, and I would have been a student there had he taken the job.
In my conversation with the Lord about it all, He showed me that those who gave their lives for Him did so as simply one more step of obedience. The obedience of Jesus on the cross came as one more step of obedience in His life. It challenged me to shift my gaze from the question, “would I give up my life for Jesus,” to, “what is God asking of me today?”
Matthew 10 closes with the powerful reality that the call to discipleship costs just about everything. I imagine that the words of Jesus explaining the sacrifices necessary to follow Him caused the disciples to pause to consider the “yes” that they had given Jesus. Honestly, it gives me pause every time I come across this reminder in Scripture.
In signing up to follow Jesus as a disciple, we did not sign up for an easy road. We signed up for a road that will cost us comfort, acceptance, family, and will even require our very lives. The lie of the enemy is that these experiences will only come through following Jesus. The lies the enemy brings include tales of safety and comfort and happiness apart from Jesus. The reality is that none escape those things that Jesus describes. None in this life escape rejection. None escape division. None escape cruelty. None escape death. These are the lot of the lives of those born into a broken world.
Those who follow Jesus, however, experience these things knowingly and honorably because they do so unto the glory of God. To walk as a disciple of Jesus is to take the broken, harsh experiences of this world and allow God to use them to bring His Kingdom to earth as it is in heaven. To walk as a disciple of Jesus is to participate in the redemption of this world.
What does it take to see brokenness and ashes turned into healing and beauty? Obedience. Even a cup of cold water given to a disciple of Jesus does not fall out of God’s sight. The cost is big, but some times obedience is small.
Today, take a step.
Maybe today the one step God wants you to take is to simply share a cup of cold water. Perhaps God is asking you to make great sacrifices for His name. Maybe you are going through difficulties because you have chosen Jesus above all else, and He wants to comfort you. Perhaps Jesus wants you to know that He understands your pain and wants you to feel His love. Maybe today is the day to set Him above all else in your life.
Whatever the step, ask God to direct it. Take a moment to take that step. Invite Him to speak. He will.
Life is a long road. Walk it with Jesus. Take a step today… just one is fine.
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*Leon, Morris, The Gospel According to Matthew. Pillar New Testament Commentary (Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1992), 271, and Keener, C. S., Matthew (Vol. 1, Mt 10:29–42) (InterVarsity Press, 1997).