Jesus said some very uncomfortable things. Such as we must deny ourselves if we are to follow Him. Or that we must lose our life in order to save it. Or that we must walk the narrow path. Or that we are to love Him more than we love our children or spouse. Or that if we are to follow Him, we will be persecuted as He was.

So, we hesitate. It makes us think twice about following Him. We realize there is more to Christianity than to raise the hand, pray the prayer, and sign the card. We have to be willing to let go of our own will and be willing to follow Him all the way!

So the cost of following Christ (discipleship) is very high. It will cost us our lives…

But have we considered the cost of not following Him?

There is a story of a certain man named Johanan in the Book of Jeremiah. He was fleeing from the Babylonians to take shelter with the Egyptians. But the prophet Jeremiah tells him to stop fleeing and stay where he is and God will take care of him. But Johanan gets nervous and does what is logical and practical to do. He takes shelter with the Egyptians. However, Egypt is ransacked by the Babylonians and Johanan is killed.

If we follow Jesus, we may lose our life but we will gain eternal life.
If we don’t follow Jesus, we lose our life (just a matter of time) AND we lose eternal life as well.

I say the cost of NOT following Jesus is much greater than the cost of follow Him.

“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose.” Jim Elliot.

PH