Jesus never hid the cost of following Him. In Luke 14, large crowds were travelling with Jesus, attracted by His teaching, miracles, compassion and authority. But Jesus made an important distinction: there is a difference between being attracted to Jesus and being surrendered to Jesus. There is a difference between enjoying the benefits of His Kingdom and submitting to the authority of its King.

Jesus challenged the crowd to count the cost of becoming His disciples. He declared that our allegiance to Him must come before every other relationship—even our own lives. He called His followers to carry their cross, surrender their possessions, and follow Him regardless of the cost. Discipleship is not a temporary emotional response; it is a lifelong commitment of surrender.

This does not mean we earn salvation through sacrifice. Ephesians 2 reminds us that salvation is entirely a gift of grace, received through faith in Jesus Christ. We cannot purchase it through good works, religious activity or personal sacrifice. Salvation is free, but true discipleship costs everything. The grace that saves us also transforms us and calls us into an entirely new way of living.

Jesus therefore doesn't invite us to negotiate the terms of following Him. We cannot say, “I'll follow You as long as it doesn't affect my career, relationships, lifestyle or comfort.” Instead, discipleship asks us to trust Jesus enough to place everything into His hands.

At the heart of this surrender is recognizing that Jesus is not only Saviour...He is Lord. Romans 10:9 declares, “Jesus is Lord.” So to call Him Lord means acknowledging His authority over every part of our lives. Our relationships, finances, ambitions, careers, time, bodies, possessions and future all belong to Him.

Jesus asked in Luke 6:46, "Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?" We can acknowledge Jesus with our words while resisting His authority through our choices. True discipleship brings our confession and our lives together.

So the question we must continually ask is:

Is there any area of my life where I have received Jesus as Saviour but resisted Him as Lord?

Jesus is not asking for one part of our lives. He is calling us to surrender the whole of our lives to Him.