Do You Know the Cost?

"Now there went with him great multitudes: and he turned, and said unto them, If any man cometh unto me, and hateth not his own father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. Whosoever doth not bear his own cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, doth not first sit down and count the cost, whether he have wherewith to complete it? Lest haply, when he hath laid a foundation, and is not able to finish, all that behold begin to mock him, saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish."  (Luke 14:25-30 ASV)

Minnie Pearl, a performer on The Grand Ole Opry, would come out on stage with a loud, country sounding "HOWDEE". She wore a hat with a $1.98 price tag dangling from it.

Counting the cost.

As in anything else in this life, if it isn't worth your everything it isn't worth anything to you. Not to say a new car, boat, or new clothes and jewelry can't be expensive, yet most everything has it's limits. There isn't much that I value over my family and true friends. Would I trade the life of one of my loved ones for a car? Of course not, nor any other worldly item would be worth the life of a loved one. 

Yet, the love of God and Jesus should be above any other tie. When Jesus says to 'hate your own father, mother, wife, children, etc. he's meaning to love them less than our love for Him. If we honestly love God and Jesus above all else, we will love our father, mother, wife, children, and brethren so much more than we would love them if we had put them first. 

Meaningless. It is meaningless to tell others 'we should love Christ first because he loved us and died for us'. It won't mean anything to them if they have not love. Consider:

•  "If ye love me, ye will keep my commandments." (John 14:15 ASV)

• "And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?" (Luke 6:46 ASV) 

I don't know how the love of God becomes implanted in the hearts of the children of men. I have seen the results, but some hearts never allow it to take root and grow. That is a sad phenomenon. How much better lives are when built on the true foundation of Jesus and His teachings:

"Every one that cometh unto me, and heareth my words, and doeth them, I will show you to whom he is like: he is like a man building a house, who digged and went deep, and laid a foundation upon the rock: and when a flood arose, the stream brake against that house, and could not shake it: because it had been well builded. But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that built a house upon the earth without a foundation; against which the stream brake, and straightway it fell in; and the ruin of that house was great." (Luke 6:47-49 ASV)

"The thief cometh not, but that he may steal, and kill, and destroy: I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly." (John 10:10 ASV)

Jesus knew the cost and he paid it anyway. He paid a debt He didn't owe; We owed a debt we couldn't pay. That either means everything to us, or it means nothing. Abundant life is your choice.

Hallelujah! What a Savior!