The Cost of Comfort

The Cost of Comfort

Whosoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.  Luke 14:27

As a believer today I will never be able to grasp the horror and magnitude of these words from Jesus. Why? In this present day I will not be able to fully understand the images and reactions that a cross would evoke in the life of a disciple who was following Jesus when these words were uttered.

In the previous verse (26), Jesus quickly obtained the attention of the crowd when He stated that whoever “does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life”, he could not be His disciple. It is my impression that Jesus pauses long enough to draw another breath before He lays out the second cost of being His disciple.

The cross was an instrument of shame, torture, and unimaginable pain aimed at punishing the most vile of criminals of the day. It was also used by the Roman government to effectively stomp out any form of insurgence. The public display of the cross was so painful and horrific that it was quite effective in spreading the message to others that crime and rebellion would be dealt with very aggressively, painfully, and swiftly.

This is the second time Luke records these words from Jesus, the first in Luke 9:23. No doubt He was very serious about conveying his criteria to those who wished to be His disciples. Jesus boldly stated his disciple was to forsake life as he knew it, which included the complete abandonment of comfort, reputation, position within the community, wealth, health, rights, and his own life. He was expected to willingly and publicly take up an instrument of torture and shame, and head toward death. There was no other reason to carry a cross in that day if it was not to die a horrific death. Jesus did not consider a man to be worthy of being His disciple if He was not willing to take up his cross and follow Him. (Matthew 10:38)

How much is Jesus worth to you? Are you willing to give up all of your creature comforts for Him? In addition, are you then willing to endure shame, pain, ridicule and even death? Have you considered the cost of discipleship?

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