Run the Numbers

If you’re going to buy a house or a car, you can only count the cost if you know what the cost is. When I talk to someone about buying a house, I usually advise them, “Run the numbers. Don’t guess!”

Jesus and Paul say count the cost to be a Jesus follower. But how would you even know what the cost is?

Potential followers of Jesus would have to arrive at a consistent answer.

What if the cost will not, indeed, be different for everyone? What if the cost will be the same for everyone? And if the cost is the same, we don’t have to guess and we can run the numbers.

Two verses that indicate what following Jesus will cost us are these:

“If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

Matthew 19:21

“In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.”

Luke 14:33

(These two verses in the Bible don’t get a lot of play time. They’re not quite coffee cup verses.)

You couldn’t possibly know the cost, unless the cost is a consistent amount, which is everything. The cost will eventually be all the way to the bottom.

Chips all the way in.

Complete weakness.

Total bankruptcy.

Untethered dependency.

But…you get to be a disciple. If you want to proceed, you'll pay with everything. But He promises that more than your previous everything will be given to you.