When Following Jesus Costs Everything

Being a Christian isn’t easy. Sometimes in the West, we say that lightly, we mean the discomfort of being misunderstood, mocked, or living counter to culture. But for many of our brothers and sisters around the world, following Jesus isn’t just hard. It’s dangerous.

In countries like North Korea, Afghanistan, Somalia, and parts of the Middle East, believers risk their very lives to gather, pray, and worship Jesus. Underground churches meet in secret basements, caves, or locked rooms. They whisper hymns instead of singing loudly. They hide their Bibles, because being caught with one could mean prison, torture, or even death.

And yet: they still come.
They still gather.
They still follow Jesus.

Why? Because He is worth everything.

Jesus said, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9:23, NRSVue)

This wasn’t meant to be a metaphor of comfort. The cross was an execution device. Jesus was saying that following Him would cost us our lives but in losing our life, we would find it (Matthew 16:25). For those in persecuted nations, this is truly reality. They know that loving Christ means saying “yes” even if it costs their freedom, their safety, their family, or their very breath.

Meanwhile, many of us in free nations have shelves filled with Bibles. We can gather openly in churches without fear. We can pray and sing without whispering. Yet how often do we take these privileges for granted?

When was the last time we opened the Word not out of obligation, but out of love? When was the last time we remembered that for some, owning one page of Scripture is worth more than gold?

Hebrews 13:3 says,

“Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them; those who are being tortured, as though you yourselves were being tortured.”

This is not just a suggestion. It’s a call. A call to pray for our persecuted brothers and sisters. A call to live with the same kind of devotion. A call to lay down our comforts, distractions, and excuses, and ask ourselves honestly:

Do we love Jesus enough to suffer?

The underground church shows us something profound: that Jesus is not just worth attending a Sunday service. He is worth everything. He is worth our comfort, our security, our time, our reputation, our lives.

So today, let’s not only thank God for the freedom we have let’s use it. Let’s open our Bibles. Let’s gather faithfully. Let’s pray fervently for those who cannot. And let’s ask the Lord to give us the same unshakable love that burns in the hearts of our persecuted brothers and sisters, who know the cost of the cross and still say, “Yes, Jesus.”