Discipleship comes with a cost. You know that; Jesus made it clear, Bonhoeffer wrote a book about it, and life has proven it to you again and again. It isn’t easy following Jesus, and sometimes the sacrifice is deeply painful. But that’s what you agreed to when you first followed him.
It helps to remember that not following Jesus comes with a much greater cost. Those who don’t know him are missing a lot. Without his life within, you’d have to face every crisis on your own. Without his promises, you’d pray with little hope of an answer. Without his restoration, you’d have to face eternity without the certainty of life. And because all of history culminates with him, you’d find yourself—to quote one of today’s most overused buzz phrases—on the “wrong side of history.”
The bottom line is that everyone pays an extremely high price—either the cost of discipleship or the cost of avoiding it. But the cost of avoiding it is greater. As Jesus himself put it: “What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?” (Matthew 16:26 NIV). It’s a great question to ask even when you already follow him. Remember that no matter how great the cost of your faithfulness, it’s always well worth it.
