Cost of Discipleship

When the rich young ruler approached Jesus to ask him what he must do to enter the kingdom of God, Jesus' end response after some dialogue was "sell everything you have and give it to the poor." And Jesus let him walk away. Harsh?! Not, o.k., sell half of it or give 10 percent of it..all. Jesus let him walk away. Do we do that? Do we let people walk away? Do we tell them the cost of discipleship or are we a culture seeking "inclusivity", compromising the cost of discipleship for more people to stay around. There's nothing appealing about the cost of discipleship..let's not throw it in people's faces, or so we think. Jesus, on the other hand, was forthright, candid, frank, straight-forward..here's the cost of discipleship: follow or depart.

Shane Claiborne said in his book "The Irresistible Revolution" that in our culture of "...radical inclusivity, [our] great temptation is to compromise the cost of discipleship in order to draw a larger crowd."

I thought about what he said...he went on to talk about Ananias and Sapphira: same thing, gave a portion of an offering but lied about the rest. God waisted no time with them. They were dead that same day.

i don't like to hear that things are going to hurt, that Christianity is gonna cost me..and not just small..big. I've known friends that haven't liked to hear it either with their own struggles. I've known friends who, because of it have walked away..like the rich young ruler.

But one thing I am realizing: i don't want to tiptoe around the cost. I don't want to try to tell people that it won't cost to tickle their ears and keep them around, as someone who is really not surrendered or a Christian at all but thinks that they are becasue they're in Christian circles. I want to be a Christian in the midst of my culture that is forthright and uncompromising in speaking to others about following Christ costing them something BIG.