Joshua 24:15-22
15 aAnd if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, bchoose this day whom you will serve, whether cthe gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or dthe gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. eBut as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”16Then the people answered, “Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods, 17for it is the Lord our God who brought us and our fathers up from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, and who did those great signs in our sight and preserved us in all the way that we went, and among all the peoples through whom we passed. 18And the Lord drove out before us all the peoples, the Amorites who lived in the land. Therefore we also will serve the Lord, for he is our God.”
19But Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the Lord, for he is fa holy God. He is ga jealous God; hhe will not forgive your transgressions or your sins. 20 iIf you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then jhe will turn and do you harm and consume you, after having done you good.” 21And the people said to Joshua, “No, but we will serve the Lord.” 22Then Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that kyou have chosen the Lord, to serve him.” And they said, “We are witnesses.”
Ruth 1:11-18
11But Naomi said, “Turn back, my daughters; why will you go with me? Have I yet sons in my womb lthat they may become your husbands? 12Turn back, my daughters; go your way, for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say I have hope, even if I should have a husband this night and should bear sons, 13would you therefore wait till they were grown? Would you therefore refrain from marrying? No, my daughters, for it is exceedingly bitter to me for your sake that mthe hand of the Lord has gone out against me.” 14Then they lifted up their voices and wept again. And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.15And she said, “See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to nher gods; return after your sister-in-law.” 16But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. oYour people shall be my people, and your God my God. 17Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. pMay the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.” 18 qAnd when Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more.
2 Samuel 15:19-20
19Then the king said to rIttai the Gittite, “Why do you also go with us? Go back and stay with the king, for you are a foreigner and also an exile from your home. 20You came only yesterday, and shall I today make you wander about with us, since I go sI know not where? Go back and take your brothers with you, and may the Lord show ▼▼Septuagint; Hebrew lacks may the Lord show
steadfast love and faithfulness to you.” Luke 14:25-33
The Cost of Discipleship
25Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, 26 u“If anyone comes to me and vdoes not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, wyes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. 27 xWhoever does not ybear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. 28For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not zfirst sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? 29Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not aasit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. 33 abSo therefore, any one of you who acdoes not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.
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