James Montgomery Boice, Christ's Call to Discipleship, Moody Publishers, 1986, p. 14.
In the days of hardship, particularly persecution, those who are in the process of becoming Christians count the cost of discipleship carefully before taking up the cross of the Nazarene. Preachers do not beguile them with false promises of an easy life or indulgence of sins. But in good times, the cost does not seem so high, and people take the name of Christ without undergoing the radical transformation of life that true conversion implies.
James Montgomery Boice, Christ’s Call to Discipleship, Moody Publishers, 1986, p. 14.