In Mark chapter 8, we encounter one of the most challenging invitations Jesus ever extended: 'If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.' This passage confronts us with three profound realities about discipleship—the call, the cost, and the crown. The call is pure grace; Jesus invites ordinary people doing ordinary things into an extraordinary relationship with Him. We see this with Simon and Andrew, simple fishermen whom Jesus chose not because of their résumés or spiritual achievements, but purely out of His love and desire for them. The cost, however, is everything. While salvation is a free gift we cannot earn, responding to Jesus' call means surrendering the rights to our own lives. It means dying to ourselves daily, embracing suffering for the sake of Christ, and releasing our grip on the temporary things we hold so tightly—our reputation, our comfort, our control. Yet here's the beautiful paradox: when we lose our life for Jesus' sake, we actually find it. True life emerges not from self-preservation but from self-surrender. The crown waiting for us is eternal life in God's presence, an imperishable glory that makes every earthly sacrifice pale in comparison. This message challenges us to examine what we're living for and asks the piercing question: What does it profit us to gain everything the world offers but lose our very soul? Living as disciples means reorienting everything—our parenting, our work, our finances, our time—around the kingdom of God, approaching each day from an eternal perspective rather than a worldly one.