Morning Devotional
March 16, 2003
“Counting the Cost”
by Don Emmitte

Jesus and his disciples left Galilee and went up to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. As they were walking along, he asked them, "Who do people say I am?" "Well," they replied, "some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say you are one of the other prophets." Then Jesus asked, "Who do you say I am?" Peter replied, "You are the Messiah." But Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him. Then Jesus began to tell them that he, the Son of Man, would suffer many terrible things and be rejected by the leaders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, and three days later he would rise again. As he talked about this openly with his disciples, Peter took him aside and told him he shouldn't say things like that. Jesus turned and looked at his disciples and then said to Peter very sternly, "Get away from me, Satan! You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God's." Then he called his disciples and the crowds to come over and listen. "If any of you wants to be my follower," he told them, "you must put aside your selfish ambition, shoulder your cross, and follow me. If you try to keep your life for yourself, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will find true life. And how do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul in the process? Is anything worth more than your soul? If a person is ashamed of me and my message in these adulterous and sinful days, I, the Son of Man, will be ashamed of that person when I return in the glory of my Father with the holy angels." (Mark 8:27-38 NLV).

A farmer went to town to buy a new pickup truck. He had seen the advertisements in the local paper about the low costs and factory rebates. After picking out the vehicle he liked best, he proceeded to write a check. The salesman said, "Wait, I haven’t told you the final price yet." The farmer said, "You advertised your price in the paper." "Yes," replied the salesman, "but that was for a basic pickup, all the options cost extra." About six months later, the farmer got a phone call from that same salesman. It seems he needed to buy a cow for his son’s agriculture project. The farmer assured him he had several nice milk cows for sale for $500 each. The car dealer picked out the cow he wanted and proceeded to write a check. The farmer said, "Wait, I haven’t told you the final price yet." He then handed him this bill: 

Basic Cow:                                                $500.00
Two-tone Exterior:                                        45.00
Extra Stomach:                                        75.00
Product Storing Equipment:                              60.00
Straw Compartment:                                      120.00
Four Spigots @ $10.00 each:                              40.00
Leather Upholstery:                                      125.00
Dual Horns:                                                    45.00
Automatic Fly-swatter:                            38.00
Fertilizer Attachment:                                      185.00
GRAND TOTAL                                 $1,233.00

Funny how easy it is to be misled when we fail to “count the cost.”  In this Sunday’s Lenten Reading, which is above, Jesus reminds the disciples that there is a cost attached to following Him. That cost may be summed up in one word: selflessness. When we begin to think of others more than ourselves, we have captured the essence of Christ’s way!