We don't often talk about the cost of following Jesus. Church sermons are full of the benefits of Christianity—it turns out that believers know that the best way to sell something is with positive marketing. But this is not what we see in scripture. In Luke 14:25–33, Jesus said,
"Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, 26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. 27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. 28 For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31 Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. 33 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple."
I remember struggling with this passage as a child. To me, it is one of the hardest things that Jesus said. The true meaning of the passage is to love God so much more than anyone or anything else, but it is Jesus' marketing technique that I want to zone in on. He isn't trying to sugar coat the truth. This is no "spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down." It is brutally honest: following me will cost you everything. We see this illustrated again in John 16:33, "I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world."
As a teenager, the truth of these passages wrecked me. So many people I knew prayed "the prayer" and went on living their lives for themselves. There was no fruit. There was no price to pay. Their conversion seemed to change nothing other than what they did on a Sunday morning. Our churches are full of these people, perhaps more-so now than ever before. The culture of Christianity has become a nice label to smack on your hat, a thing to do, a club to be a part of. But that is not what these passages tell us! When we say yes to Jesus, we are most often saying no to ourselves. Our lives are supposed to look different to everyone we see. We don't watch the same things, we don't talk the same way, our very nature begins to change.
It will cost you your desires . . . your very hopes and dreams will be laid as His feet. And yet in dying to ourselves, we become alive in the spirit and we find that the tradeoff was more than we could ever have imagined.
I have learned along the way that this death is gradual—lifelong even. Each time I think I have surrendered it all, I find the Lord revealing another place where I am holding on. This wrestling between my own flesh and spirit is exhausting sometimes. In some seasons my spirit feels so strong! My fleshly desires to waste time watching TV or scrolling on social media are almost nonexistent. I am disciplined in giving God my first and prioritizing His presence. But just when I feel like I have arrived at some pinnacle, my flesh rears its ugly head once more. Something throws me off like a vacation, sickness, or holiday and all my rhythms are lost, motivation ebbs, and I feel weaker than ever before. Swallowing my pride, I realize that I need God to help me need God. All over again I get to count the cost and pay the price as I wrestle with the age-old question: whom do you serve?
Have you counted the cost? Are you engaged in a wrestling match? Or have you given up the fight? Yes, the cost is great . . . but the reward is far greater. It's time to get back in the ring and suit up, there's a war to be won.
Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. —Matthew 26:41
Share:
In the Stillness . . .
New Year, New Hope
1 comment
Such a needed message! Thanks for sharing about a topic that’s not a popular theme in this day and age but one that’s also dear to my heart and SO key to the Gospel!❤️