Elder Linder

Part 2 of “The Devoted Life: Exploring the Path of Discipleship”

In yesterday’s post, we explored what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ—how it requires daily commitment and shapes our very identity. Today, I want to focus on a crucial aspect of discipleship that Jesus Himself emphasized: its cost.

“For which of you,” the Savior asked, “intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?” (Luke 14:28). This question wasn’t about financial planning—it was about understanding that true discipleship requires careful consideration of what we’re willing to sacrifice.

Just moments before sharing this parable, Jesus had made one of His most challenging declarations: “If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26). The word “hate” here doesn’t mean to despise—it means to love less in relation to our love for God. In other words, our love for the Lord must be so profound that even our deepest earthly attachments pale in comparison.

This principle of sacrifice has always been at the heart of discipleship. Abraham was asked to sacrifice Isaac (Genesis 22:1-2). The widow of Zarephath was asked to share her last meal (1 Kings 17:8-16). Peter and Andrew left their nets—their livelihood—to follow Jesus (Matthew 4:18-20). In each case, what seemed like a devastating loss became the gateway to greater blessings.

Growing up Catholic, choosing to be baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints meant potentially disappointing family members who had different expectations for my spiritual path. Yet that decision, while difficult, opened the door to blessings I couldn’t have imagined—including my eternal marriage to Mackenzie and the joy of raising our daughters in the gospel.

Such sacrifices follow a divine pattern: what we give up is always less than what we receive. But what are we really giving up? As Elder Neal A. Maxwell taught:

“The submission of one’s will is really the only uniquely personal thing we have to place on God’s altar. The many other things we ‘give,’ brothers and sisters, are actually the things He has already given or loaned to us. However, when you and I finally submit ourselves, by letting our individual wills be swallowed up in God’s will, then we are really giving something to Him! It is the only possession which is truly ours to give!”

Sometimes the sacrifices required of us are obvious—like giving up certain habits or activities that distance us from God. Other times, they’re more subtle—sacrificing our pride, our preconceptions, or our desire to control our own path. But always, they involve surrendering our will to His.

Today, I invite you to consider: What might the Lord be asking you to sacrifice? What habits, attitudes, or attachments might be holding you back from deeper discipleship? Remember, He doesn’t ask us to sacrifice for sacrifice’s sake—as Elder Dallin H. Oaks taught, He asks us to sacrifice “good” things for “better” or “best” things.

I testify that whatever the Lord asks us to give up, He will replace with something far greater. As President Russell M. Nelson has promised, “The Lord loves effort, and the effort brings rewards. We keep practicing. We are always progressing as long as we are striving to follow the Lord.”