What is a good deal for some, might not be for others. It all depends on the side of the table you occupy. When my husband’s employer of 23 years made the announcement last month that the company sold for billions of dollars, not everyone was excited.

“This is the time to reinvent yourself,” said our friends. But roots grow deep and wide after that many years and we don’t easily reinvent ourselves. Deep sadness over the loss of the company spread throughout all ranks. Relationships with co-workers had grown over the years, had time to develop far beyond the nationwide home-offices and Teams calls. What’s more, we all had plans for tomorrow’s income.

As sure as the amen is in church, we will encounter loss in this life. Jesus said so. (clarification: Jesus talked about the loss and my dad about the amen in church). People we love leave, our doctors will call us with hard news, and our paychecks will only carry us part of the way.

I recently picked up Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s The Cost of Discipleship again and didn’t know how providential and timely the German preacher’s words would be to me now, how his wisdom would speak into my worries. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a Lutheran pastor and died in a concentration camp as a result of his preaching and his opposition to the Nazi regime. While I am not persecuted, his words are still a powerful reminder to me.

“Only the man who follows the command of Jesus single-mindedly, and unresistingly lets his yoke rest upon him, finds his burden easy, and under its gentle pressure receives the power to persevere in the right way. The command of Jesus is hard, unutterably hard, for those who try to resist it. But for those who willingly submit, the yoke is easy, and the burden light.”
–Dietrich Bonhoeffer (The Cost of Discipleship)

Even in my wildest imagination, I cannot fathom all the ramifications of billion dollar deals – for anyone. I can, however, contemplate the weight of following Jesus. I am realizing that the cost of discipleship is far more expensive than a few billion dollars. In fact, it will cost us everything. Are we willing to pay it? Maybe it is indeed time to reinvent ourselves.

“And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?”
–Luke 9:23-25, ESV