Counting the Cost
I was thinking this morning about counting the cost. What does it mean to you to count the cost?
Jesus talks about this. Not as a way of talking people out of following him, but as a way of making sure we understand what we’re saying yes to.
“Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it?” — Luke 14:28
We tend to think of counting the cost in terms of what we’ll have to give up — things like comfort, control, your reputation. Perhaps certain ambitions, certain habits, or sometimes even relationships. That’s certainly part of it. Jesus never disguised the reality that following him would be costly. He finishes that same passage by saying that “those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples” (Luke 14:33).
But I wonder if there’s another side to counting the cost.
Poised for the Future
As you go about your day — at work, at home, with your mates, and by yourself — are you living your life in a way that is poised for the future?
Imagine. A future of complete union with God in a new creation, where doing his will and living his way is simply the default, blissful, delightful, fulfilling, wonderful choice that you freely make every single day.
“Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.” — Revelation 21:3
If that is where things are headed, then counting the cost isn’t only asking, “What will I lose if I follow Jesus?” It’s also asking, “What am I holding onto that won’t belong in that future anyway?”
What Has No Future
Bitterness has no future there. Pride has no future there. Self-centredness, greed, envy, lust for status, the endless need to be right, the constant craving for approval. None of these things survive into God’s renewed creation. They are all passing away.
Paul says as much, plainly:
“For this world in its present form is passing away.” — 1 Corinthians 7:31
And John puts the same truth the other way round:
“The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.” — 1 John 2:17
Which is a strange thing to sit with, if you let it land. Some of what we are most reluctant to release is already on its way out. We are clutching things that are, in the most literal sense, going nowhere.
Obedience as Preparation
So perhaps every small act of obedience today is not merely sacrifice. Perhaps it’s preparation.
Perhaps when we choose forgiveness over resentment, generosity over self-protection, faithfulness over convenience, self-sacrifice over selfishness, a mindset of abundance over scarcity — we’re actually learning the shape of the life we’ll one day live perfectly.
This is more or less what Paul tells the Colossians to do. Set your hearts and minds on the things above, where Christ is, and then put to death what belongs to the old order — sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, greed (Colossians 3:1–5). Notice the order. The future comes first. The letting go follows from it.
Jesus called it investing:
“Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” — Matthew 6:20–21
The cost can feel high in the moment, but from the perspective of eternity, clinging to the old ways and the old self is undeniably the far greater loss.
Towards Life, Not Away From It
Jesus calls us to count the cost because he loves us enough to tell us the truth. Following him will require everything. But in giving everything, we are not moving away from life. We are moving towards it.
Towards the day when every competing desire is finally silenced, every affection is rightly ordered, and loving God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength (Mark 12:30) is no longer a struggle but our deepest joy.
That’s the promise John holds out: “when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2). Not a diminished version of you. The finished one.
So — What Are You Investing In?
So maybe the question isn’t simply whether we’re willing to pay the cost of following Jesus.
Maybe it’s whether we’re investing ourselves in a future that is actually coming.
Have a think about it today. What’s one thing you’re still holding that has no future in the new creation? And what would it look like to let go of it now, a little early, as practice?
In Christ,
Paul