The Cost of Following Jesus

I love to read non-fiction books on just about anything!  Call me weird. I mean, I like stories that people make up, but I love learning facts about life, history, etc. I love historical books that tell the story of an event; I like books that merely rattles off facts about anything (animals, medical conditions, etc).  But since becoming a Christian, my favorite has been to read and evaluate people's views on the Christian life. Each comes to the table with their own story to tell and with their own ways to live the Christian life.  I guess I like them because I get to hear the views of my fellow brothers and sisters. I enjoy learning from people's lives.

In the most recent non-fiction Christian book I find myself engulfed with: "Jesus of Surburbia: Have we tamed the Son of God to fit our lifestyle?" I cannot help but think about the Americanize Christianity that many Americans accept.  Before I began to read this book, I wanted to examine the life of Jesus and how He lived for an example of how I should live, love, and walk.  So I began this journey through the Gospel of Luke.  Imagine my surprise when the author of the book points out MANY passages in Luke to hold up His various points.

However, one point sticks out to me far more than any other point within the book.  If we are going to live for Jesus, then we have to examine the cost of following Jesus.

In Luke 14:26-30, 33, Jesus says to a crowd that has been following him, "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers ad sisters, yes, even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.'... So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple."

In other words, Jesus says that NOTHING in this world can be placed before Him: not family, not friends, not material items, not even our own comfort and security. Because we must be willing to give it ALL up in order to be His disciple.  I know I have found myself given into this pattern of comfort and security. I want so bad to have enough money for this, or even to hold on to what I know and what I want. But that's just it! Jesus doesn't call us to follow Him while carrying around what we want. Several times, Jesus tells his disciples to LEAVE EVERYTHING: shoes, bags, etc, and go to preach the gospel.

I am guilty of holding onto my music, movies, my MacBook, my iTouch, and some friends for the sake of wanting to have security or wanting to feel loved. I want to follow Jesus, but I also want to be able to listen to whatever music I want to listen to; I want to follow Jesus, but I want to be able to watch any movie that I want to watch; I want to follow Jesus, but I want to be able to keep whatever friends I want to keep.  This is WRONG thinking.

Mike Erre, the author, states, "This, too, is the invitation of Jesus: to abandon ourselves to Him with no hope that we'll be able to control or manage Him. He will sustain us; the victory is ours because it is His, and yet the battle still rages. We must fight for the life He offers. Jesus doesn't want a blind, naive commitment from followers who expect only blessings. He was quite clear about the costs of following Him."

I hate this because I know it's true. I like control and I want to keep it. But Jesus tells us to count the cost of following Him.  As I have been counting the costs, I realize that I might lose friends, I might have to give up a few material things, but in the end, what is most important? That I followed the call of Jesus regardless and gave GLORY to God, or that I held on to my own wants and desires for the sake of being comfortable and secure?

I want to be able to give it ALL up for the sake of Christ, whether I lose those things that seem to be most important to me.  I no longer want to hold ANYTHING or ANYONE as more important than Christ, not even myself.