27. Whoever does not carry his own cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.
28. For which of you, wanting to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it?
29. Otherwise after he has laid the foundation and is not able to finish it, all who see it will begin to ridicule him,
30. saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish!’
31. Or what king, going out to engage another king in battle, does not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand.
32. But if not, while the other is still far away, he sends an ambassador and asks for terms of peace.
33. In the same way, therefore, every one of you who does not renounce all his own possessions cannot be my disciple.
34. “Now salt is good, but if salt becomes tasteless, with what will it be made salty?
35. It is usable neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; they throw it out. The one who has ears to hear, let him hear!”