Thought for the Week: ‘Christians should count the cost of following Jesus’

It would be a rare sight nowadays, but as a very young boy I remember farmers ploughing with horses. Looking back on it, it must have required a huge degree of skill, making sure that the furrows were all straight, parallel and neat.
Rev Dr  William MortonRev Dr  William Morton
Rev Dr William Morton

I should be careful using a term like, ‘looking back’ – certainly in conjunction with references to ploughing – because had not Jesus something quite direct to say about that, as is recorded in St Luke 9, one of the readings for tomorrow in many churches?

Jesus meets three potential followers. The first says - “I will follow You wherever You go”. Jesus says: ‘Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head”. In other words: “Count the cost”. The second, to whom Jesus said: “Follow Me”. replied that he must bury his father, which prompts what some might think is a rather brutal reply from Jesus. “Let the dead bury their own dead.’ And to the third, who is willing to follow Jesus, but who first wants to say goodbye to his family, Jesus says: “No one who puts his hand to the plough and looks back is fit for the Kingdom of God’.

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The point which Jesus is making is that in everything there is a crucial moment; if that moment is missed, whatever was intended most probably will never be done at all. I am told there is evidence from studies in psychology that every time we experience that sense of feeling that we should take a course of action, but do not act on it, the less likely we are to act on it at all.

The emotion becomes a substitute for the action. The letter, or the email, perhaps of sympathy, thanks or congratulations, if deferred until tomorrow, will most probably never be written. Jesus urges us to act at once; to do it now. So, it is a case of saying “Yes”, and looking ahead, going forwards, and not looking back.

We must not be distracted by anything, we must not look back with regret and we must give our lives wholeheartedly over to Him.

These are strong words, they are not comfortable reading. But ultimately, this is the truth of Christian discipleship: that it costs us everything, we have no earthly security, no earthly ties, no earthly distractions that could possibly compare with the glory of our calling to follow Jesus.

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That is truly authentic Christianity. Count the cost, leave it behind, don’t look back. That is what Jesus said to these three men and that is the call He makes on our lives today. That’s the cost of following Him.

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