SCRIPTURE:
25 A large crowd was following Jesus. He turned around and said to them, 26 “If you want to be my disciple, you must, by comparison, hate everyone else—your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple. 27 And if you do not carry your own cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple.
28 “But don’t begin until you count the cost. For who would begin construction of a building without first calculating the cost to see if there is enough money to finish it? 29 Otherwise, you might complete only the foundation before running out of money, and then everyone would laugh at you. 30 They would say, ‘There’s the person who started that building and couldn’t afford to finish it!’
31 “Or what king would go to war against another king without first sitting down with his counselors to discuss whether his army of 10,000 could defeat the 20,000 soldiers marching against him? 32 And if he can’t, he will send a delegation to discuss terms of peace while the enemy is still far away. 33 So you cannot become my disciple without giving up everything you own.
Luke 14:25-33
OBSERVATION:
When I was an Economics major at Yale, there was a concept our professors taught us called “the willingness to pay.” The principle behind it was that for every good being sold, every person has a different willingness to pay for it. Consider a pint of chocolate ice cream. I––someone who likes ice cream but doesn’t care for chocolate––would be willing to pay $2 for that pint of ice cream. Someone who is lactose intolerant and cannot eat ice cream would be willing to pay $0 for that ice cream. Someone who loves chocolate ice cream and is extremely hungry might be willing to pay $10 for it. The point is that each of us assigns a different value to everything. And the value that we assign it is our willingness to pay for it. Did you know that the same is true for following Christ?
In Luke 14, Jesus talks about the cost of following Christ. Because yes, there are many benefits to following Christ, but there also are great costs. “26 If you want to be my disciple, you must, by comparison, hate everyone else—your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple. 27 And if you do not carry your own cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26-27 NLT). These are the costs to following Christ.
And Jesus not only tells us the costs––He asks us to consider the costs before taking the plunge. “Don’t begin until you count the cost. For who would begin construction of a building without first calculating the cost to see if there is enough money to finish it?…Or what king would go to war against another king without first sitting down with his counselors to discuss whether his army of 10,000 could defeat the 20,000 soldiers marching against him?” (Luke 14:28-31 NLT).
APPLICATION:
There is a cost to following Christ.
The question you must ask yourself before following Christ is not “am I willing to pay the cost?” Rather, the right question is “Do you know the greater benefit of the opportunity you’ve been given?”
Consider once again your willingness to pay for that pint of chocolate ice cream. Your willingness to pay for that pint not just shows how much you value that pint; it shows that you believe that the benefit of receiving that pint of ice cream far outweighs the loss you incur for it. And ultimately, you purchase that pint of ice cream, despite having to lose $10 for it, because you believe you’ll be better off with that pint of ice cream rather than an extra $10 in your hands.
The same is true for following Christ. When you choose to follow Christ, you must not only focus on what you’re losing; realize what you are gaining. For when you follow Christ, yes, you must die to yourself. But when you die to yourself, you find a brand new life in Christ––one full of peace, purpose, joy, and abundance. When you follow Christ, yes, you must be willing to hate everyone else––but you do so because you realize that Christ loves all of those people far more than you ever could. When you follow Christ, yes there is a cost, but there is always a greater reward.
Think about all of the things you’ve purchased in the past week. Maybe it was a pint of ice cream. Maybe it was a gallon of gasoline. Whatever it may be––every time you’ve swiped that card, you’ve proved with your money that the benefit of your life with your purchase far outweighs the cost of losing whatever cash you’ve paid for it. If it’s so easy to make that statement with items that have an expiration date, then why is it so hard for you to do the same with Christ––who has no expiration date, is always guaranteed to show up for you, and who has proven His love to you with the price He paid for you.
Jesus paid the ultimate price for you––He gave up His life, dying a painful death on an old rugged cross, so that through His death, you could live. He paid the price for you to even have the chance to follow Him
Today, be willing to pay the price to follow Him. And not because you understand what you have to lose, but because you realize all you have to gain.
PRAYER:
Jesus,
Thank You for loving me, for dying on the cross for me, and for giving me Your best. I repent for the times where I have failed to recognize the value of the gift You have given me and for the many times I have discounted the price You paid for me far under its true value. For the truth is that there is nothing in this world, and in the next, that is greater than Your life. Today, I not only count the costs of following You; I recognize the greater value in following You––and I say Yes. Lord Jesus, I will follow You, laying my whole life down and surrendering all to You, because I know without a shadow of doubt that there is nothing better I could ever spend my life doing. So take me, use me, fill me, and have Your way in me, Lord. I am Yours. I love You, Jesus. Thank You for loving me.
In Your name I pray,
Amen
