The Cost
Read This Week: Luke 9
As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” He said to another man, “Follow me.” Still, another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.” Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.” – Luke 9:57-62 NIV
The cost of following Jesus has both a universal and individual demand. There is a cost that applies to everyone that includes living according to the Bible, turning from the things in the past that are counter to truth, stopping destructive behavioral patterns, and giving up everything that stands in the way of serving Christ. But everyone who crosses the line of faith is an individual and faces distinct challenges within the common framework of being a Christian in this day and age. The cost or sacrifice of following Jesus has to be weighed by each person who desires to do life with God.
Luke 9 shows us a few different types of people that struggled with various things when confronted with the prospect of following Jesus. The first cost the Lord lays down is the denial of self and taking up our cross and following Him. Here and in other parts of the gospels, this is too much a cost for some. Some people are too comfortable, set in their ways, and desirous of control over their lives to be on mission with and follow God.
A second example of the cost is when other things in our lives are more important than the call of Christ. Jesus personally calls a man to follow Him in verses 59-60, but the man was worried about his father’s funeral. The Lord was not suggesting that this man not care about or honor his Dad but instead wanted to measure the love he had for God compared to anyone else. Unfortunately, the man was more concerned with the issues and affairs of his life to go and proclaim the kingdom of God. His love for others superseded his love for Jesus. The cost was too high.
The last example of failing to count the cost comes in verse 61. This man volunteered to follow Christ but was too busy looking in the past instead of the future. His heart was not wholly on obedience in following the Lord’s will, and Jesus knew he would constantly look back. The man did not have a focus on God, nor did he have a vision of what it would cost him to obey moving forward. Jesus said someone like this is akin to one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back and is not fit for service in the kingdom of God.
Outside of the baseline costs of being a Christian, all of our lives are different, and that variance may constitute disparate costs for practically following Jesus. What may be too challenging for one person may be a mere afterthought to another. What may be a stumbling block for some may not even be a consideration for others. Each of us must count the overall and individual cost of following Christ, and when we do, we must never look back. Walking with Jesus for a lifetime is worth it no matter what.
This was what I got from Luke 9. When you are called, I will equip you to do what I am calling you to do. You don’t have to have a lot of things to take with you. You need to depend on Me to provide and trust Me for everything. If you don’t trust Me, how can you tell others to trust Me?
Jesus is concerned with the results of the work that you do for Him. Pray before your meals, thank Me for blessing you with food. Thank Me for everything I have given you, and thank Me for the trials you are going through. It shows your dependence and faith on Me. Jesus provides for all your needs. This should be precious to you.
Jesus can do great things with your gifts and talents that He has given you, to touch the lives of others. Yield all that you have to Him, and obey Him. If you really believe Jesus is who He says He is, it will affect the way you live your life. Denying yourself means to live as an others centered person. You can’t gain resurrection life without dying to self.
What this said to me is I need to be all in for Jesus, not just lukewarm. I need to remember my blessings and thank Him for everything. God has given me gifts and talents that I need to use for Him.
Great stuff, Kathy. These lines need to be at the start of every lesson, sermon, application, or teaching on serving the Lord and allowing ourselves to be used for His kingdom and glory:
Jesus can do great things with the gifts and talents that He has given you, to touch the lives of others. Yield all that you have to Him, and obey Him. If you really believe Jesus is who He says He is, it will affect the way you live your life.
If you believe Jesus is who He says He is, it will affect the way you live your life. I mean, this line is so powerful and true. If we truly believe that Jesus is eternally existent with the Father and that everything was made through Him, by Him, and for Him, and that He was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, performed supernatural miracles, taught us eternal truth, modeled how to live, died a cruel death on the cross, was buried, rose again on the third day, ascended to heaven, and is returning to claim us for Himself, then there is no way our lives are not affected by faith in who He is and who He has made, called and equipped us to be.
What God drew my attention to in Luke 8 is feeding the 5 thousand as a miracle. Everyday is a new day with Father God, Jesus and His Holy Spirit. We’re all living a day at a time with Jesus learning, trusting, and growing in our Faith with Father God, Jesus and His Holy Spirit.
All things are possible with Jesus, you may not feed 5 thousand but you can feed one person at a time, maybe 2, even a family. When you do miracles can happen. You can give someone a ride and when you do share God’s love with them, tell them about Jesus or encourage them for Father God and give thanks to Him that you get to feed them spiritually.
You can call someone and pray with them, you can encourage someone, you can even clean their house, you can share the good news, you can buy them a bible and a journal to write down what God puts on their heart, the list goes on all you have to do is ask Father God how you can feed someone spiritually or physically today.
Thank you Father God that we can be apart of what Your doing everyday and help us to remember to give thanks and to bless others for You and that they know its from You, Love you so much 🙂
Wonderful post, Heidi. I love how you parlayed the scriptures into a relevant application for our lives today. This part really struck me:
All things are possible with Jesus, you may not feed 5 thousand but you can feed one person at a time, maybe 2, even a family. When you do miracles can happen.
Your words reminded me of something I heard years ago that “we tend to overestimate what is done in the big moments and underestimate what can be accomplished in the small moments.” We often look for these big moments to make a difference when there are so many small moments each day that could make a tremendous impact in someone’s life, maybe even for eternity.
I appreciate how you captured this idea by contrasting the desire to feed five thousand with feeding 1, 2, or 5 and seeing God do amazing things and miracles through our service, obedience, and love.
This week in Mark 9, God gave me a song called “Building a Relationship”:
Oh Lord I just want to be close to you, close to you
Building a relationship, becoming stronger in my faith.
Becoming closer to you, Jesus
Every day listening, obeying, learning to be your light
Shining bright and bringing others towards your light
I feel blessed knowing when we fall, we can stand up and dust ourselves off
Because our Lord is with us through it all.
He is our strength who gives us the power to do all things
We are building a relationship with our Lord
Building a relationship with our Lord becoming stronger everyday. Amen.
I feel blessed because I know my Lord is with me everyday. Even as I struggle he’s with me. He teaches me to become better and help others. I feel blessed to build a strong foundation with our Lord.
Your song this week was so good, Alma as they always are. This one really hit deep. I loved the hopeful message of what it means to have a relationship with God and what it does for our lives. These two stanzas really stood out to me although I feel like I could quote the entire thing:
I feel blessed knowing when we fall, we can stand up and dust ourselves off
Because our Lord is with us through it all.
He is our strength who gives us the power to do all things
We are building a relationship with our Lord.
He is truly our strength and is with us through it all. It’s so encouraging and filled with hope and joy.
This Week in the Life: Luke 9
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