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