Episode 410: I’m Talkin…Count

I’m Talkin, episode 411 for March 1st, 2026.

This is Joel from the I’m Talkin microcast, where I share my thoughts on a topic that has piqued my interest this past week.

This week we’re talking count.

The word count can be used a couple different ways, and today I’m not talking about the, you know, one, two, three type of count, but I’m talking about the word to consider or to contemplate and then to make a decision.

And the idea is to count the consequences or to count the effort, to be thinking about what it’s going to cost, and therein lies the challenge for those of us who call ourselves Christians.

Today’s word comes from Luke 14, verses 27 to 29, that says, And if you don’t take up your own cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple.

But don’t begin before you count the cost.

For who would start construction on a building without first calculating how much money it would take to finish it?

Otherwise, you might only finish the foundation before you run out of money, and then everyone would laugh at you.

I find this to be a very interesting verse because it seems to say that if you don’t count the cost, if you don’t consider what it will take, if you don’t take up your cross and follow me, then you cannot be my disciple.

And then it says, others will make fun of you if you don’t count the cost properly and be able to finish what you started.

And so the idea of that, the thing that makes it kind of interesting is it says, if you don’t want to be my disciple, that’s okay, but you’ve got to consider what that means.

And I don’t know, I struggle with this set of verses just a little bit.

But I think what God is trying to say to us through these verses is to follow him means something, and it has to be worth it to those who follow him.

And we have to count the fact that it’s going to cost us something.

We could be ridiculed.

We could be laughed at.

We could be made fun of.

But if we consider him worth that ridicule, worth that challenge, then we will follow him.

We will have counted that cost.

We will have considered the amount that it will take to finish well, and then we will follow through through the power of the Spirit.

Until next week, this is Joel from the I’m Talking Microcast.