HomeLog inTodaySubscriptionVerse LibraryApproachAboutPrivacy中文English
← Back to Library

Luke 14:28

路加福音 14:28

The Passage

For which of you, desiring to build a tower, doesn't first sit down and count the cost, to see if he has enough to complete it?

In the other language

你们哪一个要盖一座楼，不先坐下算计花费，能盖成不能呢？

Theme

Count the cost

Bring a question to this passage

Many readers arrive here from a real question. These are reflections for how this passage speaks to the questions people bring most often — not an answer about what will happen, but an invitation to sit with it slowly.

How do I face this season of pressure at work?

Jesus makes planning a matter of discipleship: the builder sits down first and counts the cost. Under pressure that instruction sounds almost subversive — it says hasty commitment is not a virtue, and finishing matters more than starting impressively. So the question is not only whether you can do the thing, but whether you can sustain it without hollowing yourself out. This passage does not directly address workplace pressure. How might you pause to count what your commitments will ask of you before taking on more?

Carry thisSit down and count it before you say yes.

Other passages for this questionGenesis 1:26-28 · Isaiah 41:10 · 2 Corinthians 10:2-6

I want to learn to love better in this relationship.

Before building, the person in Jesus’ picture sits down. This verse does not directly teach about relationships, but it offers a useful pause for anyone wanting to love better. Good intentions alone do not tell you what you can sustain. Listening, admitting fault, keeping promises, and making room for another person all ask something of you. Counting that cost is not a way to make love cold or calculating; it is a way to take your commitments seriously. You can acknowledge your limits without making them an excuse for indifference. This verse is not directly about relationships. How much of what you hope to give in this relationship can you sustain when you pause to count the cost honestly?

Carry thisHonest commitment makes room for both generosity and limits.

Other passages for this questionGenesis 1:26-28 · Isaiah 41:10 · 2 Corinthians 10:2-6

What do I need to let go of in the coming weeks?

Before the tower rises, Jesus describes someone sitting down. This verse does not name what you need to release in the coming weeks, but it offers a pause before another commitment becomes yours. Counting the cost means being honest about what a task asks of you, rather than treating desire as enough. You might notice the pressure to say yes quickly, the wish to appear capable of everything, or the reluctance to admit limits. None of these needs to decide for you. There is room to consider your responsibilities carefully before adding to them. This verse does not name what you need to release. Which part of your desire to take on more could you bring before God as you pause to consider the cost?

Carry thisHonest limits belong in the counting of the cost.

Other passages for this questionGenesis 1:26-28 · Isaiah 41:10 · 2 Corinthians 10:2-6

How can I find stillness in a busy life?

The builder's first move is to sit down, not to start stacking stones. This passage does not directly teach stillness, but its pause before action offers you a way to notice the demands of a busy life without immediately obeying every one of them. You might sit with God and consider what your commitments actually require, where your strength is limited, and whether some things can wait; counting the cost can be an honest acknowledgment that your time and attention are not endless. Before the next task carries you along, what would you notice about your limits if you gave yourself permission to sit down?

Carry thisA pause makes room to consider what commitment requires.

Other passages for this questionGenesis 1:26-28 · Isaiah 41:10 · 2 Corinthians 10:2-6

Have a different question?

Write what you are actually carrying right now, and Lectio will answer it with this passage — Luke 14:28.

Or walk this passage through the five steps of Lectio →

Luke 14 — in context

22“The servant said, ‘Lord, it is done as you commanded, and there is still room.’

23“The lord said to the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.

24For I tell you that none of those men who were invited will taste of my supper.’”

25Now great multitudes were going with him. He turned and said to them,

26“If anyone comes to me, and doesn’t disregard his own father, mother, wife, children, brothers, and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he can’t be my disciple.

27Whoever doesn’t bear his own cross, and come after me, can’t be my disciple.

28For which of you, desiring to build a tower, doesn’t first sit down and count the cost, to see if he has enough to complete it?

29Or perhaps, when he has laid a foundation, and is not able to finish, everyone who sees begins to mock him,

30saying, ‘This man began to build, and wasn’t able to finish.’

31Or what king, as he goes to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?

32Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends an envoy, and asks for conditions of peace.

33So therefore whoever of you who doesn’t renounce all that he has, he can’t be my disciple.

34Salt is good, but if the salt becomes flat and tasteless, with what do you season it?

More from Luke

Related topics

Work and Calling

Begin a Lectio reading

Log in

Continue with Google
or use email

Don't have an account? Sign up