No Cost Or Obligation

I recently saw an advertisement on TV for a Jesus video. Unfortunately, it looked really really cheesy (what a surprise). What was interesting is the phrase I caught in the middle of the ad: "...no cost or obligation...". Obviously they just wanted people to know they could get the video for free and without having to sign up for anything.

But it reminded me of what we are called to. The devotion that we must recommit ourselves to daily. The seriousness of what is at stake. While God's grace and forgiveness are free...and while anyone and any point in their life with baggage galore can find salvation and freedom in Christ...our following The Way, our Savior, is not without cost or obligation. Hearing that phrase, especially in that context, reminded me of Luke 9:57-62:

As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go." Jesus replied, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head." He said to another man, "Follow me." But the man replied, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father." Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God." Still another said, "I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-by to my family." Jesus replied, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God."