Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a Lutheran pastor killed by the Nazis in World War II, wrote a book entitled, The Cost of Discipleship. The book describes the difference between cheap grace and costly grace. He names as cheap grace “grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ.” Costly grace on the other hand calls us to follow Jesus. The Lord names the cost in the Gospel of Luke: “Everyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.” Our possession are not so much the stuff we have but our personality, our culture, our national values. We do not add Christ into that mix but rather look at Christ first and convert our personality and culture and values into His.
