Count The Cost
Well, I am afraid that Fall has made it's arrival and I have mixed feelings.
I enjoy Fall O.K.(though summer is my favorite) but I also know that with Fall's
coming, old man Winter is right around the door and I DESPISE the cold weather.
At any rate, I watched the HBO mini series"John Adams" this past week and I
thought it was very good.It was a vivid account of the struggle for independence
our forefathers endured through the eyes of Adams and his wife Abigail. At the
very end of the movie a quote from one of Adams' personal letters to his wife
was offered. Adams said "..now Posterity, you will never know how much it cost
us to preserve your freedom.I hope you will make good use of it. If you do
not, I shall repent from heaven that I ever took half the pains to preserve it."
Early on Adams was a revolutionary firebrand but as the struggle went from days
to years to decades his perspective changed. He never flinched from his duty but
the toil of maintaining our freedom took a heavy toll. His close friend Thomas
Jefferson and he parted ways over political views. He lost a daughter to
illness, a son to alcoholism, alienated another son(although they were later
reconciled) and his family and personal life were constantly battered with
assaults on his motives and character. It COST him a great deal. As I listened
to that quote, it reminded me of another quote that Jesus uttered way back
when.
26 " If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and
mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own
life, he cannot be My disciple. 27 Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot
be My disciple. 28 For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does
not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete
it?
Luke
14:26-28 (NASB)
You know it was told me many,many years ago that salvation was free BUT,
discipleship is costly. That seems to me a true statement.As we attempt to
follow more closely to the Lord, many times a cost is involved. Can I get an
Amen? I'm preachin' to the choir here.(smile) Much of contemporary Christian
thinking today focuses on visions of glory. One hears all the time about how
life is supposed to be in the Kingdom. We are sons and daughters of the King. We
muse out loud about all the power that Jesus and the Apostles had. How we as
King's Kids should march from victory to victory and establish His Kingdom here
on earth. What we don't hear too much about is the price that was exacted. Jesus
was nailed to a cross and every disciple save John died a martyr's death. ALL OF
THEM! THE ORIGINAL KING'S KIDS!! Jesus himself was stripped of his royal
garments on the cross and long before Calvary REFUSED an offer of the Kingdom.
It COST each and every one of them.
15 So
Jesus, perceiving that they were intending to come and take Him by force to make
Him king, withdrew again to the mountain by Himself alone.
John 6:15
(NASB)
He would later again offer His kingdom to the Jewish leadership in Jerusalem.
When they rejected that offer he withdrew the kingdom and it became a kingdom
that was "not of this world."
The Apostle Paul in 2nd Corinthians speaks of what his discipleship cost
him.
23 Are
they servants of Christ?—I speak as if insane—I more so; in far more labors, in
far more imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in danger of death.
24 Five
times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes. 25 Three
times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked,
a night and a day I have spent in the deep. 26 I
have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from
robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers
in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false
brethren; 27 I
have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger
and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.
2 Cor
11:23-27 (NASB)
I have said all the above to make one simple point. Maybe your life at
present isn't one of victory upon victory. Maybe that "Kingdom" hasn't found
it's way to your doorstep quite yet. Quite possibly you are under attack and
struggling to weather the storm. The enemy might even be attacking you through
your children or a loved one who doesn't quite understand your devotion to the
Lord Jesus. What? Your finances have fallen off the cliff? Imagine
that!!??(smile) Brother and sister I feel you! May I just offer you this simple
word of encouragement. God sees it and He WILL see you through it ALL THE WAY TO
THE OTHER SIDE.
3 But
You, O Lord, are a shield about
me, My
glory, and the One who lifts my head. 4 I
was crying to the Lord with my
voice, And
He answered me from His holy mountain. Selah. 5
I lay down and slept; I
awoke, for the Lord sustains
me. 6 I
will not be afraid of ten thousands of people Who
have set themselves against me round about.
Psalms 3:3-6
(NASB)
18 The
Lord will rescue me from every evil deed, and will bring me safely to His
heavenly kingdom; to Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
2 Tim
4:17-18 (NASB)
God Bless
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