The Cost of Non Discipleship

"The Cost of Nondiscipleship In 1937 Dietrich Bonhoeffer gave the world his book The Cost of Discipleship.1 It was a masterful attack on “easy Christianity” or “cheap grace,” in the context of mid-twentieth-century Europe and America. But it did not succeed in setting aside—perhaps it even enforced—the view of discipleship as a costly spiritual excess, and only for those especially driven or called to it. It was right and good of Bonhoeffer to point out that one cannot be a disciple of Christ without forfeiting things normally sought in human life, and that one who pays little in the world’s coinage to bear his name has reason to wonder where he or she stands with God. But the cost of nondiscipleship is far greater—even when this life alone is considered—than the price paid to walk with Jesus, constantly learning from him. Nondiscipleship costs abiding peace, a life penetrated throughout by love, faith that sees everything in the light of God’s overriding governance for good, hopefulness that stands firm in the most discouraging of circumstances, power to do what is right and withstand the forces of evil. In short, nondiscipleship costs you exactly that abundance of life Jesus said he came to bring (John 10:10). The cross-shaped yoke of Christ is after all an instrument of liberation and power. "

Willard, Dallas. The Great Omission (pp. 8-9). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.