Count the Cost (Again)

I recently wrote about the problem we American Christians have with Jesus's "Sell all your possessions" because of our own wealth. "Are you talking to me?" This is not that. We do need to count the cost in other areas.

You may have heard that Jesus said, "Which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?" (Luke 14:28). He did. Do you know the context? To what was He referring when He said it?

"If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple." (Luke 14:26-27)

Oh, now, hang on a moment. Is Jesus saying that the "cost" we are to count is ... hardship? Yes, yes He is.

Jesus told His disciples, "In the world you will have tribulation" (John 16:33). Notice that there is no ambiguity, no question, not even a "might have." "You will." Peter told his readers, "Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you" (1 Peter 4:12). Notice, again the complete lack of ambiguity. Not "if it comes upon you," but "when." This is the cost Jesus told them to count. Personal loss. Public loss. Loss of family and friends and even life. Count on it.

We don't, do we? We're the "comfortable Christians." We want to "get along," to be friends with everyone, to suffer no loss, to be on the "right side of history." We encounter family and friends who "come out" as "gay" and we need to reevaluate our understanding of Scripture because "that just can't be." No, it always has been, but we aren't willing to suffer loss, to bear the pain. We are told it is hate to think biblically on some of these topics so ... we don't. Because we are not willing to suffer loss or bear the pain.

Frankly, Christianity is not our idea. We don't get to play with it, manipulate it, make it our own, update it, correct it. It is God's. And because it is God's, it will necessarily clash with our world, our world's values, our world's perceptions. Yours and mine. If you are practicing a Christianity that is comfortable and gets along with the world around you, I would argue that you're not practicing God's Christianity. If you read God's Word and find in it just those things with which you agree, I'd argue that you're not reading God's Word for what it's worth. If your Christian life is pretty comfortable and never contentious as it rubs up against the culture and society, I'd have to say you may not be living God's Christianity. On the other hand, if it is your plan to do just that -- live God's Christianity -- you had better count the cost because the founder of Christianity said it won't always be pleasant. Count on it.