Luke 14:31-32

Luke 14:31-32

[31] Or  what  king,  going  to make  war  against  another  king,  not  down  first,  and consulteth  whether  able  with  ten  thousand  him that cometh  against  him  with  twenty  thousand?  [32] Or else,  while the other  yet  a great way off,  he sendeth  an ambassage,  and desireth  conditions  of peace. 

What does Luke 14:31-32 Mean?

Contextual Meaning

This second parable makes essentially the same point as the first one. However the cost of failure in this one is not just embarrassment but personal destruction. It is very important to assess the strength of one"s enemy correctly. Jesus was not encouraging people to stop following Him because they feared they could not withstand temptations. He wanted them to follow Him, but intelligently, not naively. There were probably no kings in Jesus" audience, but the people could easily put themselves in the place of a king.
"Discipleship to Jesus Christ is not an invitation to a Sunday school picnic. It is an invitation to spiritual warfare." [1]