Counting the Cost
“Then he said to them all: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9:23)
I used to have a T-shirt that had the following words on it, “If loving God was a crime, I’d be an outlaw,” a lyric from “If loving God was a crime” by Big Tent Revival. I no longer own this T-shirt (I think it fell apart from excessive wear) but I wholeheartedly subscribe to the idea that if indeed loving God was a crime, then chain me, lock me up, and throw away the key!
When Jesus asked us to follow Him, He began by telling us to count the cost of doing so. First, he said we must deny self. This means that we should push ourselves out of the way, literally. All our wants and desires, all our selfish plans for personal gain and greed… pushed out of the way, gone, finished.
Then Jesus said that we should take up our cross. Today people wear gold and silver crosses as fashion accessories. However, in all reality the cross is an ancient tool of brutal and painful execution; an implement of death. Never one to expect us to do something He wasn’t willing to do Himself, Jesus took up His cross and was nailed hand and foot to one. Jesus took up His cross and died upon it.
A few years ago I took a seminary course in missions and came to the conclusion that people in countries where Christianity is outlawed carefully count the cost. When their very lives could depend on their religious and faith choices, and it often does, the cost and possible consequences are taken very seriously.
But do we ever think on this? In North America, where we are free to worship and our lives are not in danger if we go to a church service, do we really count the cost of what it is to follow Jesus?
I pray that this day we will choose to follow Him wholeheartedly. Not just some of the time, when it suits us, but all of the time. Even when we are called names, when we are persecuted and our reputations are at risk, when men seek to take our lives because we choose to follow Jesus, may we continue to follow Him regardless.
Keep following the leader!
Christian St John M.Div, BChM, ACS
October, 2008
Image by Moriah Farmer
