Everything costs something. We pay for the basic necessities of life, from the toilet paper in our bathrooms to the food and drink on our tables. Consider what we pay just to drive down the road. We finance a vehicle, pay for insurance, pump gas into the tank, and constantly maintain it with oil changes and repairs. We do not hesitate to pay the price for comfort and convenience.
Yet, when it comes to the Kingdom of God, we often expect everything to be free. We want deep faith without discipline. We want strong communities without commitment. We want spiritual maturity without personal sacrifice.
Jesus paid the ultimate price for our redemption with His life. The early church paid a heavy price, enduring persecution, loss of property, and martyrdom to pass the gospel down to us. Despite this legacy, modern complacency tells us we should not have to give up anything.
We must turn away from this consumer mentality and adopt the heart of King David. When offered a free shortcut for worship, David refused. “No!” the king replied to Araunah. “I will buy them from you at full price. I won’t offer to the LORD my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.”(2 Samuel 24:24 ISV).
True discipleship requires our time, our talents, and our treasures. If our faith costs us nothing, we must question what it is actually worth.
Jesus spoke of the ost of Discipleship in Luke 14:27, 33 (ESV): “Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple… So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.”
Paul told us to be living sacrifices in Romans 12:1 (NIV): “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.”
Jesus paid the ultimate price for us as we read in 1 Corinthians 6:20 (BSB): “You were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God with your body.”
We must be willing to sacrifice. We must invest in the eternal over the temporary.
Matthew 6:19-20 (ESV): “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven…”
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