Counting the Cost of Repentance

“Now great multitudes went with Him. And He turned and said to them, ‘If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple… So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.’”   Luke 14:25–33 (NKJV)

In one way or another, we all count the cost of our actions. And if we are honest with ourselves, most of us haven’t done it very well.  Too often our decisions are based on how we feel in the moment, under stress, under pressure, or while trying to escape pain. We act without fully understanding the consequences of what we’re choosing.  That’s not surprising. We’re fallen people, limited, emotional, and broken. We aren’t Jesus Christ, who alone was perfect.

Of the decisions we count the cost of, repentance is the most important one a person ever makes because it reaches beyond this life and into eternity. And yet, we often don’t count the cost well.

Let me give a harsh example from my experiences.  I’ve never been a drug addict myself, but there have been people, those I’ve loved or cared deeply for, who were.  One was a young man I’ll call Michelangelo, not his real name. He had endured a brutal childhood marked by physical abuse, sexual abuse, and emotional neglect.  By the time he reached adulthood, he believed that a rat’s life was more valuable that his own.  As a child, he escaped by imagining himself as Michelangelo from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, strong, admired, and untouchable.

But adulthood was more unforgiving. The world didn’t care about his pain which became so intense, escape through his imaginary hero no longer worked.  Instead, he found a new hero—heroine.

Michelangelo wasn’t stupid. He knew where drugs like that led.  He’d seen addiction up close in his family and understood the danger.  In a way, he counted the cost of using.  In his mind, the future without relief looked unbearable and the pain felt permanent. The drug offered immediate escape.  In that moment, the cost of using seemed much smaller than the cost of continuing to live as he was.

As addiction took hold, the moments without the drug felt worse. Tolerance grew and using increased.  Sobriety became much more intolerable than the danger of the substance itself.  Eventually, Michelangelo died of an overdose in a filthy apartment he shared with others who couldn’t or wouldn’t help him.

I tell this story because when it comes to repentance, I believe many of us make the same mistake.   We chose short term relief over long term reward.  In most cases, the consequences of counting the cost that way aren’t as visible as drug addiction, but they’re far more serious. Salvation, eternity, judgment, and life with God are often poorly understood, or simply not believed.  Many people don’t know enough about God, sin, grace, or judgment to count the cost accurately. Like Michelangelo, they choose based on immediate relief rather than ultimate outcome.

Jesus spells out the cost of discipleship plainly in Luke 14 above, yet many never truly weigh it.  When faced with repentance, the cost feels severe. Denying ourselves, carrying a cross, discarding sinful comforts, enduring persecution and resisting temptation are consequences of choosing obedience.

But the cost isn’t nearly as severe as refusing to repent.  Why? Because of time.  Scripture consistently presents life as brief and eternity as unending. “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” (2 Corinthians 4:17, NKJV)

Eternity isn’t just a long time. It’s infinite. And infinity changes how the cost of repentance must be understood.  I think James Joyce, an acclaimed Irish author, says it in a poetic and easy way to understand when he wrote, “…imagine that at the end of every million years a little bird came... and carried away in its beak a tiny grain of that sand… Yet at the end of that immense stretch of time not even one instant of eternity could be said to have ended.”

Jesus never hid that repentance involves suffering. “Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.” (2 Timothy 3:12, NKJV). We’ll feel discomfort in our flesh. We’ll resist old habits, sinful pleasures, and unhealthy ways of coping. We’ll face loss, rejection, and sometimes pain. All this makes repentance a daunting endeavor.  But when measured against eternity, the suffering of this life is truly momentary. Compared to everlasting life, the cost of repentance is essentially zero.

Jesus warned us not to misjudge the stakes, “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” (Matthew 10:28, NKJV).  Scripture speaks plainly about the alternative.  “Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.” (Revelation 20:14, NKJV)

Repentance leads to life. Refusal leads to the second death.  “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23, NKJV). Faith is required. We have to believe that repentance leads to everlasting life. If we don’t believe that, we’ll always choose the temporary over the eternal.

As we step into a new year, we need to remember what Jesus was asking when He told us to count the cost. He wasn’t minimizing suffering. He was putting it in its proper place.  A lifetime of obedience, even with pain, is brief. Eternity is not.

What Christ asks of us, repentance, obedience, endurance, and self-denial, occupies a span of time that is effectively nothing when set beside everlasting life. When counted, the cost of repentance isn’t too high but cost of refusing it is immeasurable.

Reflection Questions

• When you hear Jesus’ command to “count the cost,” what cost feels most real to you right now; comfort, relationships, habits, reputation, or control?
  

• Are there areas where you’ve delayed repentance because the immediate pain feels heavier than a future you can’t see?
  

• What temporary relief do you tend to choose when obedience feels costly; distraction, pleasure, numbing, or withdrawal?
  

• Do you truly believe that eternal life outweighs the suffering required of you in this life, or are there places where that belief breaks down?
  

• If you measured your current struggles against eternity rather than against today’s emotions, what choice might change?
  

• Is there something Christ is asking you to forsake that you’ve been trying to renegotiate instead of surrendering?