How much will it cost me?

In J.C. Ryle's excellent book, Holiness: Its Nature, Hindrances, Difficulties, & Roots he points out four things it will cost a man to be a true Christian:

1. To be a Christian it will cost a man his self-righteousness.
2. To be a Christian it will cost a man his sins.
3. To be a Christian it will cost a man his love of ease.
4. To be a Christian it will cost a man the favor of the world.

the good Bishop goes on "to give some hints which may help men to count the cost".

• Count up and compare the profit and loss, if you are a truehearted and holy Christian. You may lose the world, but you will gain the salvation of your immortal soul. Mk. 8:36
• Count up and compare the praise and the blame, if you are a truehearted and holy Christian. Men blame you, but you will be praised by the holy and living God.
• Count up and compare the friends and the enemies, if you are a truehearted and holy Christian. On the one side of you is the enmity of the devil and the wicked. On the other, you have the favor and friendship of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jn. 15:15
• Count up and compare the life that now is and the life to come, if you are a truehearted and holy Christian. We must look beyond the life we now have to the promise of eternal life. 2 Cor. 4:16-18
• Count up and compare the pleasures of sin and the happiness of God's service, if you are a truehearted and holy Christian. the pleasures of this world tend to cloud our vision keeping us from seeing the treasures laid up for us in heaven.
• Count up and compare the trouble that true Christianity entails, and the troubles that are in store for the wicked beyond the grave. A single day in hell will be worse than a lifetime of carrying a cross.

May these words comfort, encourage and rebuke you where necessary.

Soli Deo Gloria