Blog

Mar 24, 2026 06:00am

Walking Through Luke: The Cost of Obedience

219 Views

Everything has a cost in life.

Few things are truly free, although we might wish they were. But somewhere along the line, someone paid the cost for anything you can imagine having. And the older you get, the more the expenses start to add up. Things we don’t imagine having to pay for as children become common in adulthood. Who among us imagined as a child that we’d pay annual property taxes on our houses and cars? I know I didn’t.

You’ve probably heard it said for as long as you’ve been in church that salvation is a free gift. That all you have to do is believe in Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will be saved. That’s true; He did pay the cost when He died on the cross. However, we sometimes do the Christian life an injustice when we say this without considering the cost that follows salvation.

Yes, salvation is free. We do nothing to earn it. But the Bible is clear: if, following your “salvation,” your life bears no evidence of change or obedience to God, then perhaps it was not genuine salvation to begin with. James 2:17 tells us that “faith without works is dead,” meaning not that we must do works in addition to faith in order to be saved, but rather that a genuine belief in Jesus will inevitably lead us to do good works, because as the Holy Spirit changes our hearts, we begin to follow Him.

And that is where the cost comes in. The cost of salvation is that the old person we used to be is dead. That old person is not completely gone—because as long as we live, we still carry our sin nature with us—but its desires and selfishness should be left behind as we daily crucify them while choosing to follow Jesus. Each day, we should symbolically place our old nature on the cross, leave it in God’s hands, and walk with Him unencumbered by sin. But too often, we take that old nature down from the cross and drag the corpse with us everywhere we go, burdening ourselves unnecessarily.

If we are truly following Jesus, we must sacrifice that old nature—and doing so requires giving up things we might not want to surrender. Jesus offers several examples in Luke 9:57–62.

The first sacrifice is comfort. A man told Jesus he would follow Him wherever He went. Jesus responded that while even animals had places to rest, He did not. He sacrificed comfort in favor of His mission and calls us to do the same.

For some, that sacrifice is literal. They leave the comfort of modern technology in a first-world city and move somewhere less convenient—whether a small town that is still modernized but considerably more isolated, or a village without technology, plumbing, or many conveniences.

When I was a child, my family lived in Chandler, a suburb of Phoenix, Arizona. We had malls, stores, and restaurants within walking distance. Later, we moved to Burlington, Kansas—a small town with a Dollar General, a Dairy Queen, a Subway, and a Pizza Hut. From there, we eventually moved to Lakin, Kansas—an even smaller town that didn’t even have a Dollar General, and its Dairy Queen shut down shortly after we arrived. We had a Subway. That was it.

For other people, sacrificing comfort might simply mean stepping outside your comfort zone to do something you normally wouldn’t do. Whether it’s inviting a friend to church, speaking out against injustice, befriending the lonely outcast, or sharing the Gospel with someone, it might feel scary and create anxiety—but comfort is a cost of discipleship.

God promises that the Holy Spirit is with us to give us courage and the right words to say. But we must take the step of obedience before we experience that courage.

The second sacrifice is inheritance. Jesus invited another man to follow Him. When the man replied that he wanted to bury his father first, he was not suggesting that his father had already died. Most likely, his father was still alive. By saying he wanted to wait until he could bury his father, he was really saying that he wanted to wait until his father died, claim his inheritance, and then follow Jesus.

He didn’t want to miss out on the money that was coming to him.

But Jesus told him to leave that behind and proclaim the kingdom of God.

Sometimes serving God means giving up physical things—money, possessions, and opportunities. There may be a better-paying job you turn down because you believe God wants you somewhere else. Or a prestigious college you could attend, but you sense God leading you to a different one.

God does not promise us a life of wealth and leisure. He loves to bless us, but we must never let His blessings become more important than obedience to Him. Sometimes material blessings can become a temptation rather than a reward.

When a third man approached Jesus, he offered to follow Him but asked if he could first return home to say goodbye to his family. Jesus warned him that anyone who looks back after starting a task is unfit for the kingdom of God.

The implication is that if the man had returned home, he might have been overcome with love for his family and decided not to follow Jesus after all.

And so, the third sacrifice is people.

This could include family, friends, coworkers, or even a significant other. Jesus brings people into our lives—sometimes for a lifetime, sometimes only for a season.

When my family moved from Arizona to Kansas, it was difficult. We left behind aunts, uncles, and grandparents I had lived near my entire life.

When we moved from Burlington to Lakin, it was hard again because we had lived there only eighteen months and I had just made friends. When we moved from Kansas to Arkansas just before I graduated from high school, it was difficult once again because we had lived there for nine years and built friendships that felt like family.

Still, my family followed God’s call.

Later, when God led me into youth ministry, I had to leave my dad’s church where I had been teaching a class. Leaving was hard. Since graduating college, many of my friends have moved away to serve in their own ministries. Not having them nearby anymore is difficult.

But we must be willing to sacrifice even close relationships at times to show God that He is the most important priority in our lives.

Obedience is difficult. It comes with sacrifice.

But it is also the most worthwhile life you can imagine. No one enjoys paying a cost—but when it comes to following Jesus, the cost is worth it.

Despite all the changes I’ve experienced and the people I’ve had to leave behind, I would not undo any of it.

Following Christ has been worth every cost.

And I hope you will see that—and make the same choice in your own life.