"Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man will gladly go and sell all that he has. It is the pearl of great price to buy which the merchant will sell all his goods. It is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble; it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows Him." -Dietrich Bonhoeffer
What might it cost to step out? I'm not just speaking of going somewhere else. I'm talking about a step out in faith. A trust fall from 45,000 feet in the air into the arms of an almighty God. I feel as though I take grace lightly, like it is something to be taken for granted. The dictionary defines grace as "unmerited help given to people by God; freedom from sin through divine grace." I know we have all heard it a million times grace this and grace that, but what kind of grace is that? Costly grace? What if that grace I so easily throw around is what Dietrich Bonhoeffer calls "cheap grace"? He said this, "Cheap grace means grace sold on the market like cheapjacks' wares, The sacraments, the forgiveness of sin, and the consolations of religion are thrown away at cut prices. Grace is represented as the Church's inexhaustible treasury, from which she showers blessings with generous hands, without asking questions or fixing limits."
Now don't get me wrong I'm not, nor is he saying that those things are not grace or that we should not show grace. What is being spoken of here is the apparent lack of our cost. In every way is grace given to us who are in Christ but as he says later "What has cost God much, cannot be cheap to us." It cost God, the one and only God His only son. It was paid by a tremendous price. Why do I feel like there would be no cost to me?
Personally I feel as though that sort of thought process gets puts me in a complacent place. That when I really do have to make a sacrifice or when grace does cost me something, it's a shock to my system. I wasn't prepared to make sacrifices because I had been under the impression of cheap grace, that I put on myself. When Christ calls us to His name, it's going to cost something. That something may be small, that something may be huge, but you can bet that should you undergo a true follow to the call in your life from God that it will cost you.
"The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise." -Psalm 51:17
Matthew Henry says that "It is a heart breaking within itself, and breaking from it's sin: it is a heart pliable to the word of God, and patient under the rod of God, a heart subdued and brought into obedience; it is a heart that is tender, like Josiah's, and trembles at God's word" All those things being said earlier Jesus Christ is far greater than any cost. What could possibly stop me once I fully understand that? What would it look like to face the cost of grace in the face and know that it is an unraveling in order for my heart to be soften. That it would become pliable to the very word of God, that I would remain patient and still before the throne of God. As it says in Luke 14:25-33, we must sit down and contemplate the cost. We cannot build a building unless we have enough to complete it. What might it cost you? Can you say that Christ is worth the cost? Can I?
