have you counted the cost?
Growing up in the church you hear this phrase sometimes: counting the cost. As a young girl, I always thought I understood this phrase, but it was not until a few years ago that I first started understanding its meaning. Jesus is not interested in a half-hearted relationship. He says in Revelation 3:15-16, “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I am going to vomit you out of my mouth.” Jesus is unwilling to settle for 50%, 80% or 90% of you. It is all or nothing.
Luke 14: 25-30 says, “Now great crowds were traveling with him. So he turned and said to them: ‘If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters-- yes, and even his own life – he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, wanting to build a tower, doesn’t first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, after he has laid the foundation and cannot finish it, all the onlookers will begin to ridicule him, saying, ‘This man started to build and wasn’t able to finish.’”
There are so many parts of this passage that stick out to me, but I will only highlight a few. First, Jesus says that we cannot be His disciple without hating our family?... That part has always been unsettling to me. After I did a deep dive, I learned that Jesus is not asking us to hate our family or turn our backs on them. But Jesus is using such a strong word to bring clarity to the divide between the love and devotion we should have for Jesus versus all other people and things in our lives. We are even called to hate our own lives. Our lives and all other loves should not be anywhere close to Jesus in our hearts.
Secondly, Jesus says to count the cost, and He uses the illustration of a builder. Before a builder decides to build a tower, he must count the cost to make sure he can follow through. He sits and considers all the options. How many of us do this before accepting Jesus as our Savior? Have you sat down and really considered the cost? What will following Jesus mean for you in your life? What cross are you carrying? What death are you dying? Is He worth it?
This is not lip service. This is real. It is easy for Christians to say all the right things, but how is your heart? Do you mean what you are saying? Have you truly counted the cost?
Taking up your cross means no turning back. When Jesus gave the analogy of taking up your cross, everyone knew what that meant: no return. The path to the cross is a one-way journey. Are you willing to die daily and carry your cross? Is following Jesus worth the cost of everything? To surrender it all to Him?
Sit with Him and ask these questions. Take inventory of your heart. Ask Him to show you what you are withholding. What is your 1% that He does not have? Go before Him and surrender it to Him and leave it at His feet. Allow Him to invade all the spaces of your heart. He wants all of you. If He asks you to give something up for Him, do it. It’s worth it.
