Matthew 8:18–22 (ESV)
The
Cost of Following Jesus
18 Now when Jesus saw a crowd around him, he gave orders to go over to the other side. 19 And
a scribe came up and said to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” 20 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.”
21 Another of the disciples said to him, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” 22 And Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead.”
Neither one of these would-be disciples of Jesus has counted the cost. One is too quick
in promising to follow, while the other is too slow to follow. We are not told if either one followed Jesus. The examples invite us to ask, What kind of disciple am I? When we evaluate our lives as Jesus’ disciples, we must confess that we often fail
in our words and actions. Though we fall short, our Savior did not. He went all the way to the cross for us and grants us sincere repentance, faith, and life.
I pray: Lord Jesus, make me a better disciple and a more faithful witness. Amen.[1]