Everything in life has cost: some are direct and easy to identify like pump price at the filling station, but some are more difficult to see like the sleepless nights as a new parent or period of studies as a student. The cost of following Jesus is like the latter: how do we calculate the cost?
Normally, we inquire and negotiate the cost of things before transactions. To follow Jesus, there are no such negotiations because it could be costly. And since experience shows that the cost of following always causes suffering, we are often tempted ‘to beat-down the price’ at the expense of the rewards that will come if we pay the price.
And so, child of God are you gravely tempted to settle for ‘cheap followership’? Are you aiming higher in life but have not the will-power to drive your dreams to actuality? This message is for you! Continue reading slowly…
Luke 14:25-33
Great crowds accompanied Jesus on his way and he turned and spoke to them. ‘If any man comes to me without hating his father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, yes and his own life too, he cannot be my disciple. Anyone who does not carry his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.
‘And indeed, which of you here, intending to build a tower, would not first sit down and work out the cost to see if he had enough to complete it? Otherwise, if he laid the foundation and then found himself unable to finish the work, the onlookers would all start making fun of him and saying, “Here is a man who started to build and was unable to finish.”
POINTS FOR REFLECTION
1. The Danger of the Crowd
Blindly following the crowd could be dangerous. Following the crowd can give you a false sense of security. It can make you blind to the dangers that may be down the road. We normally have this delusion that the masses can’t be all wrong, and even if they are, at least we are not alone: I will be in the company of others like me. We forget that in every crowd there are authentic persons as well as fake persons. Jesus knows this. Hence, to separate the authentic ones from fake, Jesus raises the standard- the cost of discipleship becomes the standard. What price are you ready to pay to make you stand out among the crowd? Many today claim to be Christian, but the price we are ready to pay for that identity, differentiates and authenticates us.
2. The Highest Price
The cost of following Jesus is expensive! It is the highest price one can think of. Jesus uses an extreme language- ‘hate of one’s father, mother, brother, sister, etc and one’s life’, to show that the degree of cost we may have to pay is extreme.
The first extreme language calls us to something that looks like hatred of family members. And the second extreme language calls us to the cross, which means willingness to die an excruciating death.
It’s not just a metaphor. This is a cross, meaning, “Join me on the way to martyrdom.” So, counting the cost of discipleship means realizing that authentic discipleship may exact from you the highest price relationally and the highest price physically.
To follow Jesus, are you ready to pay the highest price, even with your life?
3. Secret of Spiritual and Material Growth
In following God, in growing in grace and favour and in receiving from God, this standard plays a major role. For Abraham to experience the manifestation of God’s promise as the ‘father of many nations’, he needed to offer back to God the highest sacrifice- Isaac (cf. Gen 22:12-18). For Anna to experience the fruit of the Womb, she offered to God the highest offering- her son (cf. 1 Sam 1:10-11). David’s confidence to defeat Goliath was based on the highest price paid: he said “Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God” (1 Sam 17:36). No wonder the bible says in 2 Cor 9:6: “thin sowing means thin reaping and whoever sows generously will also reap generously”. Jesus himself crowns it all when he says in Mark 10: 29-30:
Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life.
TASK
Growing spiritually and physically comes with a price, are you ready to pay it? To operate on a higher dimension of faith, to experience the manifestation of certain blessings and favours, there’s need to raise your standards. Be guided: thin sowing means thing reaping! Aim and target higher and your reaping shall be of greater value.
I Pray for you
May the Lord inspire you now and strengthen your heart to make great sacrifices. I declare Psalm 20:3-4 over you: May he remember all your sacrifices and accept your burnt offerings. May He give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed, in Jesus name. Amen.
