Biblical Counseling for Women: It Costs Too Much to Be a Christian

My father worked in the agronomy department at the local university. He often brought home international students that he had met there. One of those couples was from Taiwan. Over the months and years that followed they came often for meals and holidays. My parents became their “American family”. They were a delightful couple that treated my parents with great respect and love. My parents made an effort to not only share their lives with them, but to introduce them to their God as well. The young couple listened politely and respectfully, but did not seriously consider accepting this “new religion”. That is until the husband, Lee, became sick with encephalitis. His condition worsened and he was hospitalized. When he didn’t improve Jan, his wife, called my dad and asked him to come. When he arrived she begged him to pray that her husband would live and not die. She promised that if he lived they would both become Christians. She was desperate. Here she was in a foreign country and her only family member was near death.

I don’t know all that was said, but I know my father prayed with them and for them. Lee improved and turned a corner. It was a long struggle, but he eventually was brought back to health. They were both grateful and thankful, but a curious thing happened. They didn’t become Christians. They talked about it with my parents. They struggled with the decision. They knew what they had promised to do, but they just couldn’t commit. Finally, they spoke honestly and openly about the situation. Following is a paraphrase of their words.

“You don’t understand what it would cost us to become Christians. We would have to go against our family. Our family would disown us. We would have to give up everything to become Christians. It is easy for you to be a Christian. It is part of your culture and way of life.”

Therein lies the problem of most American Christians. The problem isn’t that it is too hard. The problem is that it is too easy. It is very easy in our culture to call yourself a Christian. Unfortunately to call yourself a Christian is not the same thing as being one. It isn’t a life changing decision. It is the accepted decision. It hasn’t cost us much, if anything, and our life goes on as it has before. We are a Christian just as much as it is convenient. Don’t get me wrong. Salvation is always of grace. It is all of God and none of us. We don’t earn our way to heaven. But a changed mindset and life should be the indications of an inward work that God has accomplished. if we can’t be bothered to live our lives all out for God has there really been a change? Are we following Christ or our peer group and culture?

As far as I know Lee and Jan never became Christians. They counted the cost and decided it cost too much. As our society becomes less and less Christian friendly I wonder how many professed Christians will walk away from the faith. How full will our churches continue to be when persecution comes?

“But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith,” Philippians 3:7-9 (NASB)