The Cost of Obedience
Anyone who has endeavored to follow Jesus with their whole life knows by experience that there is a real cost…
For those whose obedience to Jesus calls them to leave their home town or their home country (and certainly also for those whom they leave), that cost comes in particularly distinct ways.
That friend’s wedding you couldn’t go to. The birth of a new family member you don’t get to see face-to-face. The fact that your children don’t get to spend much time with their grandparents. The time a family member passed and you couldn’t say a proper goodbye. The time you weren’t able to be there for your friend when he was in the midst of trouble.
There is genuine cost to obeying Christ regardless of the business, sphere, or nation he calls you into. And Jesus, far from hiding the cost, entreats us to count the cost before we set out.
Like an experienced mountain climber cautioning his friends, “You won’t be able to make it to the top if you’re not prepared for these heights”, Jesus alerts us:
…You cannot come with me unless you love me more than you love your own life. - Luke 14:26
The cost of obedience is real and it should be counted. AND…
…Have you considered the cost of DIS-obedience?
People often talk at length of what it will cost us to obey Jesus, but what about the cost of NOT obeying ? Have you ever stopped to consider what amazing things are NOT being done when we have chosen to live in selfishness rather than selflessness. What incredible personal transformation is foregone when we choose the way of least resistance rather than The Way? What glory is not being given to God when we have chosen to bend knee to our emotions, to comfort, and to our sense of control rather than to the will of our perfect King?
If Moses had neglected his call and decided to rather live a quiet life in Midian, it may have cost the children of Israel decades longer of back-breaking bondage and who knows how many lives.
If Billy Graham had said “no thanks, God, I’m pursuing a career in baseball”, it may have cost millions of souls coming into life-saving knowledge of Christ.
If Martin Luther had decided it wasn’t worth facing up to abuse in the church, it may have cost the spiritual well-being of generations and the Bible may never have become accessible to everyday people.
If William Wilberforce and Hannah More had decided it was too much effort to change the economic and cultural tide of England, the Atlantic slave trade could have cost the lives of millions more and further decimated the economies of Africa.
What would history have looked like without the obedience of Abraham, Esther, Nehemiah, Matthew, Mark, John or Paul? How many people would not have heard the Gospel of Jesus without the obedience of Hudson Taylor, Elizabeth Elliot, Corrie Ten Boom, and Brother Andrew? How many would still be in bondage if it weren’t for the faithful obedience of ones like Amy Carmichael, Gladys Aylward, or Jackie Pullinger?
Along with a host of unnamed brothers and sisters who have, by God’s grace, endeavored to love the Lord with their entire heart, mind, soul and strength, the Lord is inviting us into obedience and we must choose to say “Yes” to whatever it is. Real lives depend on it. I think our own lives depend on it.
Through each “yes” you give to God, He is busy shaping you, your desires, your character, to make the impact that He created you for…
Will you (please) say “Yes”…
So that you and everyone else around you can benefit from the grace, wisdom and power God pours out on you? So that we don’t miss out on the amazing, unique, and deeply satsified you that God created you to become? So that the God-dreams He’s put in you can be birthed and brought to full maturity and the world can be positively shifted through the way Jesus moves through you?
And then, each time you’re faced with the cost of obedience, recognizing it as part of the invitation to more depth and joy and fulfillment in Jesus, will you (please) say another “Yes”?
It’s another invitation to be unreserved in your love for Him.
An invitation to be transformed more into the image of Jesus.
An invitation to transform nations, and spheres, and lives.
An invitation to contribute to the main plot of the universe and co-labor with Christ.
What beautiful, glorious outcomes would be lost if you decline the invitation?
Let’s not let anything stop us from complete and radical obedience to Jesus. You can pray this prayer as a fresh dedication to the Lord:
“Lord, I submit to you all my plans and purposes, all my desires and hopes, and embrace your perfect will for my life. I give myself, my life, my all, utterly to you to be yours forever. Fill me and seal me with your Holy Spirit. Use me as you want to, send me where you want to, and cause me to live out the life you created me for at any cost now and forever.”
“Whenever one person decides to obey Jesus in anything, it affects them and everyone around them positively”