Count the Cost

Someone once said there is nothing in this world free. You don't receive anything unless you pay something for it. If you have been to WalMart anytime lately, then you are well aware of this fact of life. (On a side note, I went to the WalMart in Asheboro last week and they have a big UNC / Back to School section. They have everything you could imagine in Carolina Blue. I left with a UNC shower curtin.) If you drive a car, then you pay for the car, insurance, gas, etc... If you live in a house, you pay for the rent, house payment, heat, air, power, etc... Everything may have a price, but not everything cost money. If any of you want to be a professional athlete, it will cost you time, blood, sweat, effort, to put in the hard work that it takes to be a professional athlete.

The Christian life is no different. It cost us something to follow Jesus Christ. That price is simply your life. There is no amount of money, time, effort, etc... that you can give to Jesus to substitute for your life. When the decision is made to follow Jesus, at the same time the decision is made for your life to be over. All of your dreams, hopes, desires, wants, etc... all become what God wants, dreams and desires for your life. The cost of following Jesus is a high cost that a lot of people believe they cant afford to pay. When Jesus called His first disciples He called them to leave their jobs and families and come follow Him. The call for us is no different. When we follow Jesus our lives have to change to the life that God wants to live through us.

The question we have to answer is: Is the cost worth the reward? Is the reward of serving people, being a slave to God, putting other people first, and the great reward in Heaven worth the cost of me not being as important as i thought i was. Or me having to deny myself and pick up my cross and die daily.

stay HUMBLED

stay FOCUSED

love GOD

love PEOPLE

I Just Can't Stop...

"I just cant stop", have those words ever came out of your mouth? If so, I wonder what you were referring to: watching tv, eating candy, being mean to people, saying cuss words, having premarital sex, stealing, looking at porn, telling lies, etc... Have those words ever came out of your mouth? If so, please no that you, along with me, are in a very dangerous place. When we get into something so deep that we feel like we "just cant stop" we are addicted to it. The problem with realizing your addictions is that no one wants to admit to being addicted because we like to be in control. If i had to admit that i was addicted to stealing stuff that would mean that Im not in control of my life anymore, the addiction is.

The Bible doesn't use the word "addicted" it more commonly uses the word "enslaved". Being addicted to pornography is the same as being a slave to porn. If there is anything worse than being addicted to something, it's being a slave to it. In today's "IM BIG AND BAD, I CAN DO ANYTHING I WANT BY MYSELF" society, no one wants to admit that they are addicted and we surely dont want to admit that we are enslaved to something. "This is a free country, Im free to do what i want and go where I want, Im not a slave to no one or nothing." 2nd Peter 2:19 puts it this way, "For people are slaves of anything that controls them." If you we were really free, we would be free to stop sinning. However, since we "just can't stop" we are in the same position as someone locked in a jail cell...a prisoner.

Luckily for us we have a Great Redeemer who wants to free us from anything that has us enslaved, tied up, in bondage to, etc... Redemption is synonymous with being liberated, set free, rescued from bondage or slavery from any person or thing. The prototype of this type of redemption is when God rescued the Israelites from the bondage of Pharaoh in Egypt.

Redemption always comes with the backdrop of helplessness. We see humans captured and held against forces they cannot overcome. Only by the involvement of a powerful third party can the captives be released from bondage and set free. The good news is that God is more powerful than anything, including your sinful desires. If you turn from sin and trust in Jesus, God the Holy Spirit will indwell you. As a result, you will receive a new power by which to say no to your sinful desires and yes to the holy desires of God.

God is willing and ready to redeem us from the things in our lives that we are enslaved to. It doesn't matter if it's something small or big, our redeemer is ready to set us free.