There is a cost

There is a cost, as many of you know. As the church has become more seeker friendly, the understanding of the costliness of grace and discipleship has gradually faded. As Christianity became popular, it was dispensed at bargain prices.
The Lutheran pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, “When Christ calls a man he bids him come and die.” He was himself a martyr many times before he died. He counted the cost and it was clear in his convictions. “The only man who has the right to say that he is justified by grace alone is the man who has left all to follow Christ. Such a man knows that the call to discipleship is a gift of grace, and that the call is inseparable from the grace. But those who try to use this grace as a dispensation from following Christ are simply deceiving themselves.” wrote Bonhoeffer. It comes with the call, “Follow me.” Jesus spoke these two words to his disciples. A whole lifetime lies between these two words.