Finding Treasure
“When Jesus heard his answer, he said, “There is still one thing you haven’t done. Sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” Luke 18:22
There is a cost to following Jesus.
I grew up in church and have been familiar with many of the Bible’s stories for quite some time. I knew following Jesus required stepping into great risk. Peter and Andrew laid down their nets, Jesus asked the rich young ruler to sell all he had, and Peter courageously stepped out of the boat.
Lay down your net. Sell everything. Step out of the boat. Follow me.
As a young child, I don’t remember feeling heaviness when I weighed the cost of following Jesus. In fact, the cost of discipleship has felt most painful in the aftermath of my husband’s death. How could I willingly lay down my net? How could I find courage to step out of the boat? Everything God asked me to hand over to Him, to release–to surrender– seemed to reveal something happening deep inside my soul. For some steps forward, following His path has reminded my body of the deepest grief it has ever known. In other situations, His path has revealed idols: productivity, position or pleasure–just to name a few. “All to Jesus, I surrender” became a much more difficult lyric to sing as God began to rebuild my life. Surrendering to God’s plan and His way forward has encompassed its own unique grief journey. The cost has even felt too great at times.
Maybe it’s right here that God would choose to deepen my faith. He continues to remind me of His grace. It’s more than enough. He is my strength in my weakest places. I learn that He not only sees my suffering, but He steps into it. He not only has plans to act, but He is acting right now. He will not only make all things new in the future, but He is committed to healing my broken heart today. God is certainly with me here. Nothing in this world will ever compare to being in His presence. Learning to be present to the reality of God’s presence is a priceless gift. It is like finding treasure hidden in a field.
In his 1937 book, The Cost of Discipleship, theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes: “Had Levi stayed at his post, Jesus might have been his present help in trouble, but not the Lord of his whole life. In other words Levi would never have learnt to believe…Peter had to leave the ship and risk his life on the sea, in order to learn both his own weakness and the almighty power of his Lord…The road to faith passes through obedience to the call of Jesus.”
Bonhoeffer was a Christian martyr who lived out the very picture of surrender that he called costly grace in his writing—“It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life.”
The cost of discipleship is great; the grace of His reward is greater. The call to “follow me” is a daily invitation as a disciple of Christ. It is a risk worth taking and the lives of the faithful prove it to us over and over again. The way to deepen my posture of surrender is to keep walking hand in hand with Jesus. To keep letting Him prove to me that He is “I AM.”
To truly follow Christ, I must ask difficult questions. What am I holding onto that will never satisfy me? Where do I need to exchange my ways for His ways? Then, I name these places and I hear that sweet invitation from Jesus to come. Come, follow me. I will keep grieving and leaving behind the pieces of a life I may have wished for or things I thought I needed. I have found someone far greater to run after. He is worth everything to me. "The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.” Matthew 13:44
Lay down your net. Sell everything. Step out of the boat. Follow me.
Faithfully,
