“If Your Price Is Not Your Life, Then You Are for Sale” A Reflection on the Cost of Discipleship

 

“If Your Price Is Not Your Life, Then You Are for Sale”
A Reflection on the Cost of Discipleship

The Price Tag We Don’t Like to Read

“If your price is not your life, then you are for sale.”
The sentence is uncomfortable because it strips away religious language and exposes the truth beneath it: every disciple has a price. The only question is whether that price has already been paid.

Jesus never hid the cost of following Him. He did not market discipleship as self-fulfillment, safety, or upward mobility. Instead, He issued an invitation that sounded more like a warning:

“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9:23)

A cross was not a metaphor in the first century. It was an instrument of execution. Jesus was saying, “Come and die.” Any discipleship that does not begin there ends somewhere else.

When Allegiance Is Tested

The Bible consistently frames discipleship as a matter of allegiance rather than convenience.

“No one can serve two masters… You cannot serve both God and money.” (Matthew 6:24)

Jesus’ words apply far beyond money. We cannot serve God and safety, God and reputation, God and nationalism, God and career, God and comfort. When these competing loyalties arise, something must give.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was executed by the Nazis for resisting Hitler, wrote in The Cost of Discipleship:

“When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.”

Bonhoeffer did not write those words from a lecture hall. He lived them in a prison cell. His refusal to let the state replace Christ cost him his freedom—and eventually his life. His price was already paid.

The Subtle Ways We Are Bought

Not all compromises are dramatic. Most are painfully ordinary.

Peter openly declared his loyalty to Jesus—until it became dangerous.

“Then he began to call down curses, and he swore to them, ‘I don’t know the man!’” (Matthew 26:74)

Peter was not bribed with money. He was bought with fear.

Judas, on the other hand, was explicit:

“What are you willing to give me if I deliver him over to you?” (Matthew 26:15)

Thirty pieces of silver revealed Judas’ price. Peter’s price was safety. Both denied Jesus—one with his lips, the other with his life. The difference was not failure, but repentance. Peter wept bitterly and returned. Judas did not.

Real-Life Witnesses: Lives Not for Sale

Polycarp (2nd century bishop of Smyrna)
When commanded to renounce Christ and save his life, Polycarp replied:

“Eighty-six years I have served Him, and He has done me no wrong. How then can I blaspheme my King who saved me?”

He was burned alive. His price was not negotiable.

Richard Wurmbrand (Romania, 20th century)
Founder of The Voice of the Martyrs, Wurmbrand endured years of torture and solitary confinement for preaching Christ under communism. He wrote:

“A man really believes not what he recites in his creed, but only the things he is ready to die for.”

Modern persecuted believers
Across parts of South Asia, the Middle East, and Africa today, Christians lose homes, jobs, children, and freedom—not because they are reckless, but because they refuse to deny Christ. Their discipleship is not theoretical. It is embodied.

The Gospel We Have Tamed

In much of the Western church, discipleship has been domesticated. We speak of “accepting Jesus” without surrendering to Him.

Jesus’ words resist this dilution:

“Whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:27)
“Any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:33)

This is not salvation by works. It is salvation that works—transforming ownership, identity, and loyalty. As A.W. Tozer warned:

“The cross is not a symbol of sacrifice; it is a symbol of death.”

What It Means to Be Unsellable

To say “my life is the price” does not mean all disciples will die as martyrs. It means we have already died.

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.” (Galatians 2:20)

When your life is already surrendered, threats lose their leverage. When reputation is laid down, shame loses its power. When comfort is released, suffering no longer controls your obedience.

John Stott summarized it well:

“We must not think of carrying our cross as a particular trial or hardship, but as a way of life.”

Application: Counting the Cost Today

Discipleship demands honest self-examination.

Ask yourself:

  • What would cause me to stay silent when Christ calls me to speak?

  • What would cause me to walk away from obedience?

  • What am I protecting that Jesus may be asking me to surrender?

  • If faith cost me my job, reputation, or safety—would I still follow?

Jesus’ question still stands:

“What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?” (Mark 8:36)

The goal of discipleship is not heroism, but faithfulness. Not recklessness, but obedience. Not seeking suffering, but refusing to betray Christ to avoid it.

“If your price is not your life, then you are for sale.”
But if your life is already His, then you are finally free.

“Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you life as your victor’s crown.” (Revelation 2:10)

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