The Cost of Not Following Fully

The call of the Lord is for a forward movement. . . that we press on and go. . . that as we follow Him the cross becomes an instrument of death whose fruit is life in us. What great promises in following Jesus in this life. . . union with Him in this life, becoming like Him. The pain of letting go and the costs of doing so pale compared to knowing Him in this way. And while the blessedness of union opens new horizons and invites us onward, there are great costs, great loss, in not following Him. . . of stopping short. . . of not going on with Him and knowing Him in greater and greater measure.

How easy it is to not follow the Lord. . . so much comes up to distract and turn away. So much is just surface with us, there is no depth of the Lord in us, so much is not genuine. And yet the purpose of God is for more of Christ within. The gospel is often presented as an easy thing and yet Jesus says that there are costs for those who follow. . . not just His cost in dying on the cross but our cost in knowing Him fully. Jesus invites but also says there is a cannot to following Him. . . a block to things, an abyss to what is possible. That to be a disciple, to come after Him, to become like Him, has a cost. . . there is an utterness to following Jesus. “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. . . anyone who does not renounce all that he has cannot be My disciple.” What big cannots they are. . . what cost to being a disciple. . . touching everything at the deepest point. How much hinges on the utterness of our response to Him. And what failure and lack awaits when we are half-hearted. . . when the heart is not fully devoted. . . when the Lord is one of many desires and not the only desire of our heart. Following Him in this life makes clear where we are in this matter of heart devotion to the Lord. . . what is genuine in us and where we are hypocrites. The Lord gives explanation by way of example why there is no discipling into the Lord if there is no coming after Him by way of the cross. . . “For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ ” The cost of not being able to finish what is started. . . of not making it thru. What a high thing we are called to in this world. . . nothing less than the full measure of Christ. And yet there is no reaching that without taking up the cross and coming after Him. The promise of God is for knowledge of Him in Christ and that in increasing measure. . . and yet the promise mocks if there is no utterness on our part to follow Him. There is no getting thru, no maturity about us. . . a son of God who remains a child. There is a tragedy, a weakness to things, when stopping short of the full intention of God. Even the world mocks, “This man begins to build and was not able to finish.” What cost, what loss, in starting but not going on to completion.

The lack of utterness on our part has other costs. “Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace.” There is a cost in settling for things. . . of not going into the battle at all and making peace when the call of the Lord often means risk. If the response to facing risks and hard circumstances is to first find the resource in ourselves, and not finding the resource, we often settle, we make peace. And yet the call of the Lord to follow Him utterly is that we not look to our own resources at all, but rather find in Christ the resource to make it thru. . . that regardless of the circumstances we follow even if the prospects at the beginning are poor. In our following, if we find ourselves sitting down and considering the outcome and the prospects for success, often we will never even go into the battle and so never win the victory. There will be a making peace with the thing that confronts us and we settle for a weaker condition. . . the defeat of not following the Lord utterly, where regardless of the cost we go on. The Lord has promised to be strength and hope and life in the situation. . . he is that resource to us as we go on. But in not going thru we never find the resource in Him and we never know Him in increased measure. Not making it thru and settling for less than the Lord intends is a great loss. What loss of power and life in us when we do not go on with the Lord. How little the Lord can go on with us when we are not utterly following Him. The Lord sums up this teaching, “So therefore, anyone who does not renounce all that he has cannot be My disciple.” There is no learning of Christ, no coming into greater measure of Christ within, without the utterness on our part that means renouncing all we have, all we are, denying ourselves. . . that at the heart of what we are, that what we are falls down and is put off. There is strength in denying ourselves. . . there is firm ground in renouncing all that we have and doing so utterly. There is something about being all in that is attractive. Someone with a full hearted devotion who is all in regardless of the cost wins the admiration of others even if they don’t agree with the cause. The Lord looks for that devotion in the heart. . . that single-mindedness where Christ is all. The Lord is all in with those who are utterly out for Him.