It’s Worth The Cost

The other day I was on the internet and the name of an old friend Chris came up. Chris and I are about the same age and we started working together as young engineers 20 years ago in a technology company in the Boston area. We hung out a lot and worked together on some projects. Well, according to the internet, Chris is currently a successful vice president of a tech company making almost $300K a year. When I saw that, I had one of my doubting moments – I thought to myself, “That could have been me.” I thought, I’d have a nice big home, nice family, I would have plenty of money, work on some cool stuff with the challenge of running a business… what am I doing?!

But then I started to think – if that were me, I would have to worry about optical systems every day, and I really don’t care about those. I would have to maintain a big house and a nice car, and I have a just enough to do with the little place I stay in right now. And I thought, to maintain everything, I’d probably be in a little debt and I’d be worried about my money all the time. And I thought, I wouldn’t be with God sharing in what He is doing, lifting up people who are down. I wouldn’t have seen all the miracles, been with so many people in important times, being a part of the greatest joys of life, that make me tick. I wouldn’t have come out of addictions, I wouldn’t have accompanied my parents to hand them off to God, and I wouldn’t have ever come to Ecuador. I wouldn’t have a very peaceful conscience and be happy all the time in the presence of the craziness that life can be, for all of us. I wouldn’t be *me*.

And so I thought, Discipleship costs.

But it’s worth it.

Jesus invites everyone to be a disciple, and it comes with a cost. There’s no fantasizing about it. He doesn’t sugar coat it, and I don’t sugar coat it – it’s a big cost. But what you get for it is you get your authentic self, you get your real life.

Discipleship costs.

But it’s worth it.

“If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself
and take up his cross daily and follow me.
For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.
What profit is there for one to gain the whole world
yet lose or forfeit himself?” (Lk 9:24-25)