The Cost

I've been reading in Luke lately, specifically, 9:57-62. It talks about the cost of following Jesus. Yes, it is true, salvation is free but is there is a cost to following Jesus? To summarize the passage, different men approached Jesus wanting to follow him or Jesus himself extends an invitation (what an honor) to 'follow him.' It appears they want to follow him however they give reasons why they can't right at the moment, very legitimate reasons (in my opinion). One wants to go home and bury his father first and another wants to go home to say good-bye to his family. These seem like reasonable requests to me. They want to go but just want to take care of some business first. Jesus responds to both. To the man wanting to bury his father he says, "Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the Kingdom of God", and he says in verse 62 to the other man, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the Kingdom of God". Woah... I'm still trying to understand all this. It seems that Jesus knew these men were not fully committed or didn't quite understand the cost of following Jesus. Even though these were 'good things' to go back for it was nothing compared to the opportunity to follow Jesus and be a part of his ministry. The cost, our whole lives, nothing less.

Yes, a bit heavy but it is what I've been studying. I don't know if I'll ever fully understand the cost of following Jesus however, I want to try.