In today’s Gospel reading, three men come to Jesus and tell him they want to follow him. When Jesus tells them what they have to sacrifice and leave behind to follow him, they were not ready and instead gave excuses. These three men were not ready to leave behind their families, their desires, and their affairs. They wanted to follow Jesus but in their own terms and within their comfort zones.

Sad to say, many of us are like these men. We want to follow Christ but we are not willing to give up our possessions and ambitions. We give our conditions that suit us before we follow Christ. We are ready to follow Christ as long as it does not interfere with our time, family, career, etc. We give a thousand reasons why we cannot yet follow Christ when we are called. We are still too attached with our temporal needs. We are not ready to perform acts of sacrifice and be totally committed in living a life like Christ. To become a true follower of Christ, we should willingly surrender our life and our will to him.