Don't settle for cheap grace

“Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” Matthew 16:24 NIV

In an article published by Runner’s World recently titled “Cheap Meal Recipes From Elite Marathoner McKale Montgomery,” McKale, who has a Ph.D. in Nutrition and holds a 2:34 marathon PR, said healthy food doesn’t have to be expensive if you’re careful about shopping. All her racing and training is fueled by groceries from Walmart. Montgomery, 37, lives in Stillwater, Oklahoma, where she is an assistant professor of nutritional sciences at Oklahoma State University. Although she and her husband, Scott, who is a software engineer, are at the point in their careers where they could afford more expensive food on occasion, they avoid it. It’s in their nature to be “thrifty,” she said. And, with the rising cost of food, it would do us all well to be “thrifty” and check out some of those cheap meal recipes that work for McKale. After all, if they can fuel an elite marathoner, they can fuel us too right?

And you know, while cheap meals are a good thing, cheap grace is definitely not. What exactly is cheap grace you might ask? In his book titled The Cost of Discipleship, Dietrich Bonhoeffer defined it as “the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline. Communion without confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ.” In other words, cheap grace spotlights and gives special importance to the benefits of being a Christian without mentioning the costs of following Jesus wholeheartedly, which entails a complete surrender of a person's wants, wills, and desires to serve Him no matter the cost of doing so and the total submission of a person's yearning to go their own way to "take up their cross" to follow Jesus instead... even if it means losing all they have or even giving up their very lives. 

So be that 'person' who chooses to "take up their cross" over taking hold of cheap grace today my friend. It will be hard to say the least, but I can promise you that you will reap eternal benefits far beyond your wildest imagination and will gain far more than you will ever lose by doing so. 

Heavenly Father, thank You for reminding us that true discipleship will cost us everything we have and then some. It won't be easy to follow You, especially as we encounter the persecution that is sure to come to every true believer as the end days draw nearer, but it will be so worth it. Give us the strength to keep pressing on, the discernment to make the right choices, and a heart set on following You until the day we hear the trumpet sound and You take us home. It's in your precious name we pray Jesus. Amen. 

Happy Running!!!