The Cost of Repentance

 

Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, “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. 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.’ Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14:25-33 ESV).

 

Repentance is costly. While grace is free, discipleship is costly. Traveling with Jesus is not the same as following Jesus. Large crowds gathered around him and even traveled with him, but he called for them to be more involved. If people were going to be Jesus’ followers, they needed to know what they were doing. They needed to listen carefully and to count the cost of commitment. In our reading today, Jesus underscored this by saying, in effect, “Listen up! What I’m saying is important!”

 

Being a follower of Jesus Christ calls for sober self-denial as well as a willingness to always put Jesus first. Using strong exaggeration, Jesus demands our loyalty to him over our concerns for self or family or anything else. Cross-carrying is not for the faint of heart. It requires constant dedication and obedience. Christ followers are called to finish what they have started.

 

There aren’t many projects I have started and never finished. Though I must confess there are two projects sitting on my workbench in the shop now that are not quite done. I started them before I became sick. My hope is the I will feel better soon and get them finished. I have not put them out of sight so that I am reminded that there is yet work to be done. That’s true in every area of our life if we have life. I hope you are thinking of your “projects” during this time. Persevere to the end. The person who wants to follow Jesus must know that to be useful and effective for the kingdom of God means counting the cost and remaining committed to the end!