Dietrich Bonhoeffer was an influential teacher last century. He wrote an excellent book titled The Cost of Discipleship. In it he laid out the problem of focusing on grace simply as forgiveness. Bonhoeffer called into question receiving grace with no intention of following Jesus. He called this grace, “cheap grace.” He wrote of how difficult it is to really follow Christ.

Dallas Willard also stresses that grace is more than forgiveness of sin. But he talks about discipleship in a different way. He talks about the cost of not being a disciple. In other words, the difficult life is when you are not following the ways of Jesus. Think about it.

If you are consciously or subconsciously following other principles or values than those of Jesus, you are following a way of life you weren’t designed for. God created you to follow Jesus. It would be like taking a PC and installing an Apple operating system. You were created for Windows and you are trying to work through an OS life.

No, in a way, the Christian life is meant to be easy. When you intend to follow the teachings of Jesus and you follow through, you are operating exactly how you are designed. Smooth.