June 3, 2026

Today the church is asking what it actually costs to follow Jesus — and whether we're prepared to pay it. Christianity Today ran an excerpt from Abraham Cho this week on the hidden treasure parable: the man sells everything, not reluctantly, but with joy. The treasure reorders the whole ledger. The Aquila Report pushes in the same direction — the gospel isn't just good works, it's beholding God. The distinction matters. A faith organized around doing good things can survive without transformation. One organized around seeing God cannot. Chris Martin adds a harder edge: the oldest temptation isn't immorality, it's playing God — substituting our own judgment for his, quietly and constantly. That thread connects all three pieces. The cost of discipleship is not primarily sacrifice. It's surrender of control.

Mere Orthodoxy ran something that sounds administrative but isn't: churches that neglect basic competence become vulnerable to radicalization. Weak institutions get captured. That's a structural argument with a theological spine — caring well for people requires actual skill, not just intention. Lifeway Research says the same problem shows up in the pews: churches are skipping deep theology, and the cost is formation. Christianity Today also pulled from church history this week, on courage as resistance, not just endurance. The early church didn't just die well — it pushed back. Earlier this week we were watching the question of desire and discernment surface from several angles. That question hasn't resolved. It's just gotten more specific: do we want the right things badly enough to lose the wrong ones?