The Cost of Discipleship

In a culture where Christianity is often reduced to a casual identity marker, Jesus's words about the cost of discipleship stand in stark contrast. Today, we'll explore what Jesus really meant when He called His followers to count the cost.

Luke 14:27-28 "Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it?"

Some years ago, while traveling through Albania, I reflected upon hundreds of half-finished houses that line the roads—foundations laid, walls erected, roofs installed, but without windows or residents. Why? Because the builders didn't budget properly. They ran out of money before completing their houses. They didn't count the cost.

Jesus says the same is true of those who claim to follow Him. Many people don't calculate the cost of discipleship. They're urged to find "their best life now" without understanding what Jesus truly demands.

What is that cost? Jesus is devastatingly clear: "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" (Luke 14:26).

He's not literally telling us to hate our families. Rather, in comparison with our love for Jesus, all other loves should pale. Our lives should be so hemmed into a desire to follow Christ that we could even say we "hate" our own lives.

Jesus continues: "So then, none of you can be My disciples who does not give up all his possessions" (Luke 14:33). Your resources are yours to steward, but you need to understand they don't belong to you—and neither does your life. If you're a follower of Jesus, everything you have belongs to Him.

This isn't some radical fringe teaching—it's repeated throughout the Gospels. "If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me" (Luke 9:23). "Go and sell everything you possess" (Mark 10:21). "The one who does not take up his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me" (Matthew 10:38).

How do we count the cost of following Jesus? By expecting Him to demand the highest possible price. When you sign up for the possibility of death and dereliction because you belong to Him, nothing will surprise you.

Jesus isn't saying, "Join me on my pathway to prominence." He's saying, "Join me on my way to the cross."

But here's the divine paradox: in losing your life, you find it. In giving up everything, you gain everything in Christ. The door to salvation is indeed broad—"whosoever believes"—but the way of discipleship is narrow.

Have you counted the cost? And having counted it, have you abandoned everything to follow Jesus?

Stay dialed in,
Jonny Ardavanis