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Two weeks into my car music fast...my prayer life should be amazing, right?

Nope.

My listening skills are beginning to tune, but my willingness to ask has not improved. All in good time, my friends. In listening, my Jesus has hammered home this pearl:

"For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.' Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and consider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one coming against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions.

"Therefore, salt is good; but if even salt has become tasteless, with what will it be seasoned? It is useless either for the soil or for the manure pile; it is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear." (Luke 14:28-35)

I admit, I like that Jesus speaks in extremes. However, this passage perplexes me. Is Christ really asking us to go all in or not at all? If so, what does "salt" have to do with it?

It jogged my memory of a church I once attended. We were an intimate body of believers that didn't mind filling a converted gym with folding chairs every week. The youth group was growing too big for its space, and every room had multiple purposes. Because the church was not handicap accessible, county code required the church to construct an elevator if they desired to add on to the current building. As a result, the church leadership decided to begin construction on a new site.

What resulted was a nightmare. The members had not personally committed to the financial burden of the project, and construction was regularly delayed. Furthermore, the building was not constructed according to the scale of the original blueprints, making it grossly larger and more expensive. When we finally moved into the new sanctuary, it felt cold, impersonal, and unfinished. The church would be in debt for years.

We can see through a physical example how dangerous it is to ignore the cost. That isn't to say that God doesn't ask us to move by faith, but the people were not committed enough to the project to consider this a faith move. At the first sign of trouble, members were ready to dismiss it as a loss.

Jesus would guard us from that and pull no punches. From the start, he informs us that carrying his cross will cost everything: relationships, possessions, time, and heart. He warns us not to enter the war if we haven't considered the cost.

As the American church, we've made it easy. There's nothing costly about raising our hands among other believers or filling out a commitment card after a great service. We are greatly encouraged by the crowd to fully commit to Christ, without regard to what this means. We enter the war without an objective, as if entering the war was the objective.

The tragedy is that many are never informed that they've entered a war. Imagine the President of the United States recruiting you to join a club. He sells it to you:

"Join the club! We meet a couple times a week and the club is growing like mad! It would be un-American not to join the club!"

You're excited. You attend all the meetings, and your heart is stirred by the leadership. You've made excellent friends.

Suddenly, you receive a phone call from your local club leader. He's sending you to Iraq. He's sending your best friend to Afghanistan. Front lines. High risk of death. You're handed a gun you've never loaded and asked to defend yourself. Good frickin' luck.

Christ never intended to blindside us. This cross is heavy stuff. It costs everything. Not only are you guaranteed to stare your enemy in the face, you're powerless to defend yourself unless you're willing to die.

Now...who's signing the yellow commitment card?
Back to "salt" -- why is it so important to count the cost? Jesus tells us that salt that loses its saltiness is useless. My wonderful Greek instructor always reminded us that context is key.

The guy building the tower was ridiculed by his peers because the abandoned work is a reflection of the builder's folly. He didn't consider what it would cost. When he began, I imagine he was proud of his work. He told the guys at the barber shop and the people at the bar. The community grew tired of hearing about the tower. It was only natural that the prominent eyesore would be a source of mockery.

Christ tells us in Matthew 5:13 that we are the salt of the earth. As ministers of the gospel of truth, we will be noticed -- we should be noticed. Our hearts will pour out in abundance the work He has done. Counting the cost is purely for His glory: what use is a fizzling faith to the world? What use is a soldier without regard for the war? How can we communicate the gospel with conviction while fearing (or ignoring) the trials of battle?

Physically speaking, young men once took pride in being in the United States Armed Forces, because it symbolized a willingness to represent something larger. Soldiers willingly disregarded their personal interests for the hope of something to come. What was once a source of American pride has become an avenue for ridicule, as our country paid college students to enlist for other benefits.

I don't care about physical matters, but the same principle applies to our faith. When we commit to carrying His cross with anything other than His glory in mind, we cheapen the call. The coffee, fellowship, and music are nice, but are we ready for the war? If we had received the gospel with knowledge of the battle (and we should have), would we still have followed Christ?

But, beloved, we are convinced of better things concerning you, and things that accompany salvation, though we are speaking in this way. For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward His name, in having ministered and in still ministering to the saints. And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you will not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. (Hebrews 6:9-12, emphasis added)