If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it.  Luke 9:23-24

There is nothing about the verses in Luke that is appealing or part of any natural human inclination. Certainly we like the idea of following Christ and of having eternal life in heaven with Him rather than spending eternity in hell with Satan.

The Cost of Discipleship, by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, is a powerful book. If you haven’t run across it, I suggest that you find it. Just as powerful is the backstory of Bonhoeffer himself, which was well chronicled by Eric Metaxas in his 2010 book Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy.

“Cheap grace,” according to Bonhoeffer, a German pastor who stood up to the Nazi regime, is the forgiveness of our sins through what Christ did for us on the cross. But without more, the outspoken theologian says, it merely means the justification of the sin without the justification of the sinner. We begin to believe that since we are forever forgiven—past, present, and future—we’re covered. Nothing needs to change. Life goes on as it always has, but we’re secure.

But then Bonhoeffer presents the uncomfortable idea, the part about taking up our crosses daily. That part that sounds a little too much like what Christ did that got Him nailed to the cross for us. Does He really want us to hang there with Him?

Bonhoeffer says that is the “costly grace” that we don’t talk about too much. It’s the part of the relationship with Christ, through His free gift of eternal life bought with His blood on the cross, that requires complete obedience at all costs. That means in all situations, at all times of our lives, with all aspects of our lives—including all of our time, talent, and treasures.

It’s the costly part of grace we try to avoid thinking about because it means going all the way—sacrificially and selflessly—to the cross with Christ.

Bonhoeffer was willing to do that, standing defiantly against the Nazis for his faith and the freedom of others, and he paid for it with his life.

UNCOMMON KEY > Get a copy of The Cost of Discipleship and Bonhoeffer and spend time absorbing what God has done for you and what He is asking you to do. Taking up your cross also means hanging on it with Him.

Tony Dungy and Nathan Whitaker, Living Your Life’s Purpose (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale, 2014).

I have just completed a 5-week Bible Study is a challenge to take your discipleship as seriously as you take your sports. The bible often uses the arena of sports as a metaphor to help us understand Christian discipleship. Five sessions include:

Surrounded. Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses... let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Hebrews 12.1 - 3.

Pursuing Holiness. Anyone who competes as an athlete does not receive the victor’s crown except by competing according to the rules. 2 Timothy 2:4–6

One thing. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on. Philippians 3:12–14

Run to Win. Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 1 Corinthians 9:24–26

Trained. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things. 1 Timothy 4:8

It is available on Amazon, as well as part of my Good Questions Have Groups Talking subscription service.

This service is like Netflix for Bible Lessons. You pay a low monthly, quarterly or annual fee and get access to all the lessons. New lessons that correspond with three of Lifeway's outlines are automatically included, as well as a backlog of thousands of lessons. Each lesson consists of 20 or so ready-to-use questions that get groups talking, as well as answers from well-known authors such as Charles Swindoll and Max Lucado. For more information, or to sign up, click here.