A prosperity filled promise that says "those who come to Christ are guaranteed all the material gain, health and trial free living they can believe God for" is simply untrue. That being said, the reactionary view, purportedly rooted in the call from Jesus to "count the cost," often exclusively focuses on the privatization, persecution and trial that often comes with an unadulterated pursuit of Christ.
It is true that the Word calls one to consider what it means to "die to yourself" and follow Christ, to take thought of what we may loose. That being said, we must run the equation out and also consider the gain He promises. The person is no fool who drains their savings to buy a field priced for thousands, knowing that the field has unearthed treasure valued in the millions. The buyer has simply performed accurate arithmetic. Likewise the call to "count the cost" demands correct math, and when performed correctly, the sum total equals far more gain in Christ than we will ever lose.
"Jesus said, I tell you the truth, there is no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for my sake and for the sake of the gospel who will not receive in this age a hundred times as much - homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, fields, all with persecutions - and in the age to come, eternal life." Mark 10:29-30
"More than that, I now regard all things as liabilities compared to the far greater value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things - indeed, I regard them as dung! That I may gain Christ..." Philippians 3:8
- Micah McElveen