My Reflection on Matthew 10: "The Cost of Commitment"

“And whoever does not take his cross
and follow me is not worthy of me.” (Matthew 10:38ESV)

To receive Christ is easy. To be a Christian is simple. But to be a follower of Christ is not without price to pay. Following Jesus is such a costly commitment. To join the Christians means to become part of an identifiable group. To take Christ seriously is to invite criticism and ridicule. I’m not sure which one is worst, but if you’re really a committed Christian, I’m sure you had experienced both. Don’t fool ourselves; you must expect to be called “traitor”, “fool”, “alien” etc. and to have quite offensive and sarcastic comments such as “Look! Holy man/woman is here~”. Here is Jesus clear words of assurance,

“A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master.” (Matthew 10:24)

Perhaps we had deceived ourselves (and by that ancient Serpent, Satan) that following Christ is ‘all honey and no bees’. We had minimize the sting – the gospel of prosperity (“Christ will make you rich”, “God don’t want you to be poor”), the gospel faith-healer (and by the end of the day, they asked for money) and the gospel of self-help (“God is within you”, “Your destiny is in your hand”) had polluted the actual Gospel that emphasis on the Cross (suffering and persecution) as the ground of Christian’s faith. Committed to follow Christ is an unpopular choice – and thus, in my observations those who love to minimize the sting are fear of unpopularity. [That’s why nowadays, we heard so much about “strange doctrine” that has no basis from the Truth, the Scriptures. Twisted, wrongly interpreted and quoted the Words here and there to strengthen their own personal points.]

A Call to Examine the Cost of Commitment

The nature of commitment is immovable. The law of commitment requires us to consider the fact that some things will have to go. Peace, assurance of eternal life with the Lord and fellowship with One true God are undeniably a wonderful ‘package’ after becoming follower of Christ but all of the above is, like I write earlier, not without price to pay. There is a call to change when a person become a Christian. Sorry to say (but I must boldly proclaimed) not every habit, hobby, activities, even relationship can co-exist with the new commitment. David Day in his wonderful and most recommended book, This Jesus (Published by Inter-Varsity Press, 1980), writes, “Jesus has always demanded a certain life-style of his followers, but his life-style often contradicts the values of contemporary society.” For examples, it would mean that you had to let go of your drunkenness habits, that you weren’t going to get stoned every Saturday, and that fellow-students weren’t just sex-objects.

As you are committed to follow Christ, my friends, you will have a new relationship that has the power to enable you to overcome your old sinful self. God is faithful; He does not leave a vacuum. He’ll soften your heart to want to read and meditates on His Word, to have fellowship with other faithful Christians in the Body of Christ, and placing your spirit that longing to be on your knees and pray. Slowly, but faithful. God be with you.

Afterword

By writing these things out I’m not saying that you should be suffer more or let go everything that you enjoy doing and with sad-long-papaya-juice face serving the Lord, but I’m simply ‘warned’ you (and myself included) that if all this while you had never once suffer such rejections, criticisms and ridicules (and even persecutions [God forbid]) and never “let go” your sinful acts perhaps we never really commit ourselves to follow Christ wholeheartedly.

Are you committed to follow Christ?

Let me end today’s article by quoting John White profound words of reminder,

“When Jesus tells you to take up your cross daily, he is not telling you to find some way to suffer daily. He is simply giving forewarning of what happens to the person who follows him.” (from, The Cost of Commitment: Living for the sake of Jesus. Inter-Varsity Press, 1976)

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP. THE END.