Have you ever heard the saying “Only salvation is free?”

What if I told you that this statement is not true? Truth be told there is actually a cost associated with the offering of salvation. Allow me to explain

When God created us, He included free will which means we get to decide whether we want to live life our way or with Him fully
He gave us the ability of choice because He desired relationship with us built on mutual grounds. I mean He could have made it so that we only do what He says but then we would be puppets with a Puppet Master

What He did do though was impress upon man the words and teachings to be written down in the form of the Bible. These words would serve as teachings and examples of how we should live and what is available when we choose to follow Him.
In essence then when we say yes to God we are choosing to No longer live life on our terms but on His (God’s).

Matthew 19:16
A man came to Jesus and asked, Teacher, what good thing must I do to have eternal life?
Jesus answered, why do you ask me about what is good? Only God is good. But if you want to have eternal life, obey the laws

When the rich man asked Christ what he needed to do to follow Him, Christ told him he would have to sell his earthly possessions, give the money to the poor and follow Him

Matthew 20:21
The young man said, I have obeyed all these commands, what else do I need? Jesus answered, if you want to be perfect, go and sell all that you own, give the money to the poor and you will have riches in heaven, then come and follow me

So the cost then would be us surrendering what we think we know, what we think is important to us and follow the leading the teachings and being obedient on a different level to God, and herein is the truth about my earlier statement that stated salvation is not free

Choosing to follow God and live solely for Him therefore comes with a price, it comes with us saying that we desire to please Him over pleasing ourselves. It comes with us intentionally seeking His Kingdom His righteousness His teachings which we have laid out in the the Bible, and as you can see for ourselves it is certainly not free It comes with us being obedient

When the Disciples were with Jesus they didn’t need the Bible because He was there in the flesh to teach them

Matthew 19:27-28
Peter said to Him, we left everything we had to follow you. So what will we have?

Jesus said when the time of the new world comes, the son of man will sit on his great and glorious throne, and I can promise that you who followed me will sit on twelve thrones and judge the twelve tribes of Israel

This was the promise made to them by Christ because of the sacrifice they made to follow.
So when we willingly decide to live for God the cost is us giving up all that we know was never pleasing to Him to begin with

Matthew 19:18
The man asked which ones?
Jesus answered you must not murder anyone, you must not commit adultery, you must not steal, you must not tell lies, you must respect your mother and father and love your neighbor the same as you love yourself

I know for me if I may be honest I would definitely need Godly help in order to walk righteously and be totally obedient. Jesus knew this and as such He also stated in Matthew 19:26

This is something that people cannot do, but God can do anything

So Christ in His wisdom told us exactly what would be needed in order to accomplish walking the new path and to do it well

So the cost of following God is releasing the old, seeking the kingdom, being obedient on a new level and asking God to help at every step of the journey

I am Peace Reigns