Cost

What is the cost of following Christ? That’s a heavily loaded question, and I knew it as I typed it, but I ask the question anyway.

The reason why I ask is that I’ve been reading a lot lately from Gospels about Jesus’ interaction with the disciples. I taught a small group bible study for a Youth retreat at a local church last weekend, and we studied the relationship that Jesus has with His disciples, and how He inspired them to change the world.

One of the things that we really looked at was the cost of being a Christ follower. For the disciples, it costed them everything.

Jesus was a pretty strange teacher in that anytime He gathered a large group of followers, it always seemed like He would turn around and say something that seemed kind of out-there and different, like:

If anyone comes to Me and does hate his own father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters- yes, and even his own life- he cannot be My disciple.” Luke 14:26 (HCSB)

And after He would say this, it seemed like all of His “followers” would balk at His decrees and take off. To be honest, I can’t say that I wouldn’t in that day and age. To follow Christ isn’t to be popular and comfortable. To follow Christ is to make a huge commitment that brings conflict, criticism, and even danger into your life. The disciples knew this, but they stayed committed.

As one reads through Bible (especially Acts) we see the price that the disciples paid to be called followers of Jesus. Throughout history since Jesus’ resurrection, we read the stories of people who paid a high cost to be called a follower of Christ.

But what if it feels like we haven’t paid a very high price for our faith? Wouldn’t that make us less committed?

I ask this question after looking within at my own life. As I sit down and think about my faith and pray about my testimony in preparation for what the summer will bring, I think about the fact that I haven’t really paid a high price for my faith. The life that I try to live for Jesus has not brought much criticism or strife, and in fact has left me pretty comfortable. I have a lot of friends. I have a nice job, an amazing girlfriend, an awesome family. Living the American Dream.

I guess what I am trying to say is that I don’t feel committed. I read the stories of people in other nations who are suffering for the kingdom of God and here I sit, comfortable at my desk, typing briskly away at my computer. No one will come knocking at my door tonight demanding to take me away for preaching the Gospel of Christ. I will not fear for my life tomorrow as I head to church to gather with fellow believers. I will not fear for my life Monday when I return to campus and walk to my class. Those are fears that believers around the world are living everyday.

So where does leave us? I think it leaves us in a unique position where there isn’t anything inhibiting us from being fully committed to Christ. I think it becomes easy for us to be lazy. There’s no pressure. It’s part of the American lifestyle to be laid back and relaxed, while our brothers and sisters around the world toil and suffer everyday, all in the name of Jesus.

It seems like I am ranting here, and maybe I am, but as I sit here I just can’t help but think about everything that is wrong with the life I am living right now. And the catalyst for this revelation in my life occurred that weekend at the Youth Retreat.

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The group of students that I spent time with that weekend grasped what the Bible means when it describes “denying ourselves, taking up our Cross daily, and following [Him]” (See Luke 9:23). the felt the same thing that I felt. They felt that we were living far too comfortably in our American lives, and that there were so many opportunities for us to step outside of the box and into an American world where Jesus is tolerated but not accepted.

That humbled me in so many ways. Their wisdom and understanding of the matter at such a young age, it really inspired me, and it gave me so much think about and dwell upon.

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So, a bunch of young high school students are ready to commit their lives to Christ. So shouldn’t I be as well? The disciples of Jesus weren’t living regular comfortable lives. They weren’t cool. Most of them were poor, a loser, practiced a hated profession, or all of the above. They took what Jesus taught them to hard, and devoted their lives to His service.

So, in our comfy, cozy, Americanized lives, shouldn’t we do the same?