Matthew 8:19-20

“And a scribe came up and said to him, ‘Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head’.”

Right before this scene occurs, Jesus has been healing many people from their sicknesses and casting out demons from them. A crowd was around Him, and He told His disciples that they were going to go to tho other side of the sea. When they were getting ready to leave a scribe came up to Him and told Him that where Jesus went, he would follow. When Jesus heard this that is where the cost of following Jesus comes in. Whenever you choose to do something, there is always a cost that comes with it. In Exodus 32:29 it gives us an example of this cost when Moses says,”And Moses said, ‘Today you have been ordained for the service of the Lord, each one at the cost of his son and of his brother, so that he might bestow a blessing upon you this day’.” When God calls us, it is a choice to follow Him or to continue in our sin. The cost of sin is death and eternity in darkness, but the only cost of following Jesus is gain of eternal life. In this section of scripture, Jesus explains how he has no temporal home, He doesn’t even have a place to lay His head at night. If Jesus was willing to come down from heaven with no guarantee that He would have a place to rest, how should we react in light of that truth? 

I tend to forget that the cost of following Jesus really isn’t that much of a cost at all compared to the abundant and joyful life we receive in return. Sin feels good for a time, but eventually it will just bog you down and bring you no satisfaction whatsoever. The only true satisfaction we can get is from Jesus and how He fills us with joy and peace that isn’t able to be explained and is eternal. The cost that we see is through our fleshly and worldly eyes because, when you think about it, Jesus is saving us from an eternity of darkness and death and separation from Him. The completeness that  we get from the Lord is so much more gain than anything we could ever give up in this temporary world. I have to remind myself of this truth as I see all of my friends back home going to college and experiencing life without me there. While it may seem like I’m missing out, I am getting to do something so cool and different that the Lord has blessed me with. I get to be a part of this ministry and experience so many different places and witness people coming to Christ and see the growth and the blessing that God has over Potter’s Field. It truly is a great privilege to live this life and walk in a relationship with the Lord. This life is exceedingly and abundantly more than I could’ve ever hoped for. My application is to write down when I’m feeling the worldly cost, and write something that the Lord is allowing me to be a part of instead.