Counting the Cost
Luke 14:28–33
Any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple. Luke 14:33

What must I pay to be a Christian? I must pay the price of my self righteousness, no longer counting myself a good person but rather one who has transgressed God’s righteous laws and is therefore under the sentence of his wrath and condemnation. But when I pay the price of my self-righteousness, I gain Christ’s righteousness, which is perfect and imperishable. In that righteousness I can stand before the very throne of God and be unafraid.

I must pay the price of those sins I now cherish. I must give them up, every one. I cannot cling to a single sin and pretend that at the same time I am following the Lord Jesus Christ. But in place of my sins I find holiness, without which no one can see the Lord (Heb. 12:14). I come to know the joy of holiness rather than the empty mockery of transgressions.

I must pay the price of my own understanding of life, of what it is all about and of what ultimately matters. I must surrender my confused and contradictory opinions to the revelation of God in Scripture. I must never attempt to correct or second-guess God. But when I do bring every thought into captivity to Christ, I find true liberation. As Jesus said, “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32).

I must pay the price of this world’s friendship. I will be in the world but not of it. I will know that the world is no friend of grace to lead me on to God, but that it will always keep me from him. Indeed, I must not only forsake the world; I must despise it for the sake of following after God. A hard price? Yes, but in place of the friendship of this world, I have the friendship of Christ (15:15). Jesus is the Friend that sticks closer than a brother.

I must pay the price of my plans for my life. I have many ideas for what I want to do and be, but I must give them all up. I cannot both run my life and also have Jesus run it. Jesus is Lord of all, and unless he is Lord of all my life, he is not Lord at all. If he is not Lord, he is not Savior. My plans must go. Yes, but in place of those flawed plans, Jesus has a perfect plan that will both bless me and help others.

I must pay the price of my own will. That sinful, selfish will must go entirely. But in its place comes that “good, pleasing and perfect will” of God (Rom. 12:2 NIV).

Taken from Come to the Waters by James Boice ISBN 9798887790954 used with permission from P&R Publishing, Phillipsburg NJ 08865

Scripture quotations are from the ESV (the Holy Bible English Standard Version) copyright 2001 by Crossway a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved.