“Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. 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.’”
“Discipleship and Public Accounting”
Nothing frustrates a budding young LEGO engineer more than realizing that he doesn’t have the pieces he needs to finish the metroplex sprawling across his living room floor. Now, instead of a series of towers, streets, and houses, he has a maze of half-finished frames and nowhere good for his LEGO folk to hide. It’s a small-scale failure.
Following Jesus and becoming his disciple requires a degree of prep work that we may overlook. If we had spoken these verses, we might say that following Jesus is responding immediately to God in light of what we have right now. Jesus, however, says that life as his disciple requires making sure you have the resources to follow him until the very end, both on paper and in actuality.
Failing to count the cost of a life dedicated to following Jesus has a few different direct implications in light of Jesus’ analogy. First, you don’t get to enjoy the completed design. A disciple that fails to fully follow Jesus misses out on the life of flourishing that God designed for us. Second, the half-built house of a life brings public shame on the God we set out to glorify. To the lost world, your life is a gospel witness, and a life that lacks full commitment to Christ declares something to others about Christ himself. Lastly, poor accounting as you follow Jesus will lead to drastic consequences both for the planner and for those who are in relationship with them (Luke 14:31–33).
Following Jesus requires counting the cost for the sake of your flourishing, the sake of the gospel’s public reputation, and for the sake of others in your life. Praise Jesus that he’s worthy of the cost!
Respond: Think of all the significant spaces (physical or otherwise) where you live your life (e.g., home, work, gym, neighborhood, digital spaces, etc.). Draw a circle for each one, and in the circle, write out the cost of following Christ there. Then, pray over each circle and ask God to help you rightly represent him and his gospel as you endure in your faith there. Ask for opportunities to love and serve those around you well through your faith in Jesus in every area of your life.