Here are two statements worth contemplating that hit my inbox this week. The first addresses the cost of nondiscipleship. We rightly talk about counting the cost of following Christ, and that is obviously wise and biblical to do. But we also are wise to count the cost of not following Christ:
This is the picture of Jesus in the gospel. He is something — someone — worth losing everything for. And if we walk away from the Jesus of the gospel, we walk away from eternal riches. The cost of nondiscipleship is profoundly greater for us than the cost of discipleship. For when we abandon the trinkets of this world and respond to the radical invitation of Jesus, we discover the infinite treasure of knowing and experiencing him. [David Platt, Radical; HT: Of First Importance.]
Additionally, the ability to follow Christ — to enjoy and delight in Him is a gift of God’s grace:
Grace is the incomprehensible fact that God is well pleased with a man, and that a man can rejoice in God. Only when grace is recognized to be incomprehensible is it grace. Grace exists, therefore, only where the Resurrection is reflected. Grace is the gift of Christ, who exposes the gulf which separates God and man, and, by exposing it, bridges it. [Karl Barth, The Epistle to the Romans; HT: CQOD.]
Words of Grace 