The Cost of Following Jesus

I like to think, read, and talk about how to be most effective in life and ministry.

I like reading books about how to grow a church, reach more people, and maximize our gifts and strategies. For good reason, certainly. For the kingdom.

But, want to know what I don’t like thinking or talking about?

The cost of following Jesus.

Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me.” Matthew 16:24

To deny yourself is to sacrifice; it’s to give up the things that might potentially comfort, satisfy or maximize your life. Instead, according to Jesus, there’s going to be a cost. It might involve carrying a cross for the sake of others or a mission he’s called us to.

Recently, I had breakfast with a friend who said our driving question should be, “How can God use my life to reach as many people as possible?”

Again, most of my conversations and study are around strengths, leadership, and utilizing my gifts for the kingdom. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that. But there’s a fine line between focusing on growing your gifts and becoming self-focused; there’s a fine line between becoming the best version of you or living your best life and following Jesus no matter if that leads to the best version of you or your best life.

Why are we resistant to the cost of following Jesus? I can think of at least three.

1.     We like to be comfortable.

Again, I don’t want anyone to feel like it’s wrong to pursue the good things of life. Why? God is a good God who wants the best for us. I believe that to my core. However, sometimes the best things for us are not things that make us comfortable.

For example, sometimes I think the best day is a day I can just lay on a couch all day and watch TV for 12 hours straight. But want to know what I feel like when I’m done with a day like that? Useless. Bored. Even though I was comfortable, I was not satisfied. And I certainly wasn’t living out any purpose. Do we want comfort or purpose?

2.     We are afraid.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to move to Africa and be a missionary. Why? I’m afraid. Beyond not feeling called, of course, I’m simply afraid the cost will be too great.

However, you know as well as I do that fear is the opposite of faith. In order to live out our faith and embrace the cost of following Jesus, we must learn to quiet the voices of fear and step out, even when we’re quivering in fear..

3.     We are selfish.

At our core, no one wants to be selfish, but because we are all people who battle sin, we are drawn to selfishness like a moth to a light. We just can’t help it.

But what’s the cost of following Jesus? It’s dying to our self. Daily.

When we breathe our last, we won’t want a life filled with only comfort, fear, and selfishness. That’s a life of pointlessness and purposelessness (is that a word?). The cost of following Jesus is to push away from our desire for comfort, to overcome our fear and take risks, and to live selflessly.

Will we live a life that costs us something?

All for the sake of reaching as many people as possible?

I hope I do.