To be a Christian, in terms of counting the cost, is to understand that following Jesus is not an accessory we add to an already-centered life. It is a decisive transfer of ownership, loyalty, and direction, in which Christ becomes first, and everything else becomes secondary.
Jesus said that when “great multitudes” were following Him, He turned and clarified what real discipleship requires: “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:25–26). In the same breath, He repeated it in another form: “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me… and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me” (Matt 10:37). So, when we count the cost, we are not being told to despise our families; we are being told to settle the question of supreme love and ultimate allegiance. Jesus will not accept being second place in our hearts.
Then He presses it further: “Whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:27). Christianity is not merely admiration of Jesus; it is following Him on a path that includes suffering, rejection, and death to self. “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” (Matt 16:24). And Luke adds a word that makes it intensely practical: “take up his cross daily” (Luke 9:23). That means our discipleship is not only a moment of decision; it is a daily posture of surrender.
Jesus then explains what “counting the cost” looks like using two pictures: a builder and a king. “For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost… whether he has enough to finish it… lest… all who see it begin to mock him” (Luke 14:28–30). And again: “Or what king… does not sit down first and consider whether he is able…?” (Luke 14:31). In other words, Jesus does not want us to enter discipleship casually, emotionally, or impulsively. He wants us to think, to consider, to weigh what it will require because starting and not finishing brings shame and exposes that we never truly surrendered.
So, what is the “cost” Jesus is naming? He states it plainly: “So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:33). This is the heart of it. The cost is not merely that we might lose things; the cost is that we must release our claim to own things. We no longer treat life as “mine.” We are not in charge. The same theme appears in the call to self-denial: “Whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it” (Matt 16:25). Mark adds, “for My sake and the gospel’s will save it” (Mark 8:35). And Jesus makes the logic unavoidable: “For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matt 16:26; Mark 8:36–37; Luke 9:25).
Counting the cost also includes the cost of public loyalty. “Whoever is ashamed of Me and My words… of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed” (Mark 8:38; Luke 9:26). Jesus said, “Whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father… but whoever denies Me… him I will also deny” (Matt 10:32–33). Discipleship is not secret allegiance. It is confession, witness, and endurance even when the world pushes back.
The Word of God, the Scriptures, does not hide what that pushback looks like. “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you… because you are not of the world… therefore the world hates you” (John 15:18–19). “If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you” (John 15:20). Paul is blunt: “All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution” (2 Tim 3:12). The early church taught new believers, “We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22). And Jesus told His followers ahead of time: “In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).
Sometimes that cost lands inside our own homes. Jesus warned, “A man’s enemies will be those of his own household” (Matt 10:36), and again, “brother will deliver up brother to death… and you will be hated by all for My name’s sake” (Matt 10:21–22). That is why Luke 9 shows Jesus refusing, “I’ll follow You, but first…” “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62). Counting the cost means we stop negotiating with Christ.
But it also means we count honestly what we gain. Peter once said, “See, we have left all and followed You” (Matt 19:27; Luke 18:28; Mark 10:28). Jesus did not rebuke that; He confirmed it. “Everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life” (Matt 19:29). Luke says that those who leave things “for the sake of the kingdom of God… shall receive many times more in this present time, and in the age to come eternal life” (Luke 18:29–30). Mark adds the line we need to remember that “hundredfold” comes “with persecutions” (Mark 10:30). So, the gain is real, but it is not a promise of ease. It is the promise of Christ’s provision, Christ’s people, and eternal life without pretending the road is comfortable.
We also see in Paul’s life what counting the cost looks like in the soul. “What things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ… and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ” (Phil 3:7–8). That is not loss for loss’s sake; it is loss because Christ is worth more than what we surrender. Paul’s aim becomes knowing Christ, “the fellowship of His sufferings,” and being “conformed to His death” (Phil 3:10–11). And that’s why he can speak as a man who understands the price: “none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy” (Acts 20:24).
This is where the New Testament helps us interpret the cost correctly: Christians are not simply people who endure hardship; we endure it as those who belong to Another. “He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again” (2 Cor 5:15). “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me” (Gal 2:20). And we present our whole lives to God: “a living sacrifice” (Rom 12:1–2). That is why discipleship feels costly because it truly is a death to self-rule.
And yet, the Scriptures also teach us how to walk through that cost without collapsing. We are told to rejoice in trials and see them as purposeful. “Do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial… but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings” (1 Pet 4:12–13). “If anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter” (1 Pet 4:16). “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake… rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven” (Matt 5:10–12). Trials test and refine faith “to praise, honor, and glory” (1 Pet 1:6–7). They produce endurance and maturity (James 1:2–4). And they fix our eyes on eternity: “our light affliction… is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory… the things which are seen are temporary” (2 Cor 4:16–18).
So, when we ask, “What Does It Mean to Be a Christian in Terms of Counting the Cost?” the Scriptures answer like this:
It means we deny ourselves, take up the cross daily, and follow Him without turning back (Luke 9:23; Luke 9:62). It means Jesus is worth more than our closest relationships, our safest comforts, our private ambitions, and even our own life (Luke 14:26; Matt 10:37–39). It means we forsake all that we have as owners so that we can belong wholly to Him as disciples (Luke 14:33). It means we refuse to trade our soul for the whole world (Matt 16:26). It means we confess Christ without shame and endure hatred, persecution, and tribulation as part of the narrow way (Matt 10:32–33; John 15:18–20; Matt 7:13–14). It means we suffer with Him and follow His steps, because “to this we were called” (Rom 8:17; 1 Pet 2:21). It means we endure like soldiers and runners who live for a coming reward (2 Tim 2:3–4; 1 Cor 9:24–27). It means we do not love our lives “to the death,” because Christ is more valuable than self-preservation (Rev 12:11). And the hope that steadies us when the cost feels heavy is also in our Scriptures: nothing “tribulation, or distress, or persecution… or sword” can separate us “from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 8:35–39). We endure because He is worth it, because He has overcome the world (John 16:33), and because those who are “faithful until death” receive “the crown of life” (Rev 2:10).
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