Jesus, Luke 14 reports, gave three concepts to the large crowd that was following Him. He spoke to them of what it means to be a disciple, the necessity of picking up our cross daily, and the wisdom of counting the cost.
While I grew up in a church, I had only a vague concept of discipleship, the cross, and the cost. I was told that salvation consisted of Christ laying down His life on the cross (think of it as a down payment) and my keeping up the installments with good works.
I now know that that concept of salvation is incorrect. Christ paid the full price of my salvation, and it is mine by faith because of God’s grace.
Still there is a cost—but that cost is not associated with salvation, it is associated with discipleship.
I remember some of my friends telling me that getting saved meant I would have to give up all the stuff I loved to do. They said God would strip me of everything. Initially, I associated that with “counting the cost.” Was I willing to give up everything I loved to have God’s salvation?
As it turned out, I was not stripped of anything, I was blessed with so much more. God gave me new desires—His desires—and I could hardly wait to embrace those things. The old things that I thought were so important simply slipped away. The things of God turned out to be worth so much more than the things I used to value.
The “cost?” My few things for God’s everything! Hallelujah!
