A Cost Worth More Than Rubies

I have been learning so much!

Seriously, my head feels like it’s going to explode most of the time. It is a glorious feeling that I seldom know what to do with practically.

God has been re-affirming his big vision of this life he’s given me quite a bit lately. He’s brought me books, articles, sermons even class lectures and content that reflect the state of his church in America. I am broken anew every day at the news that those who claim to be Christian do not live their lives reflecting that reality. And a still greater majority do not read their Bibles.

Please don’t misunderstand me. I do not have it all together, nor will I until I see Jesus face to face but if you claim to be a Christian but have never even OPENED your Bible you may need to reconsider what being a Christian actually means.

Church isn’t a building but a body of believers who gather to do God’s work. We are to show love and compassion not only to ourselves (we are bad at this, trust me) but to those in community around us (and we also suck in this area). Our neighbors, coworkers and baristas. Being a Christian means we live this out EVEN IF IT MEANS OTHERS WILL HATE US. Also, if we don’t read our Bible, how will we know what it is God wants us to do?

I have been hit over the head with this reality in the last week. The passage I read for one of my classes today really struck a chord and even the speaker in chapel reiterated it:

“Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, “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. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?  Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him,  saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’  Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?  And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.” -Luke 14:25-33 ESV

I don’t know how many times I’ve read this passage or have had it read to me. I do know that this morning I paused to think about it in the few moments I had in-between classes. What does it mean to really live my life for Christ? What will it cost to be his disciple? I’m still wrestling with the answer to that. This is a strong reality that should not be taken lightly and I confess that I have! Too often I back down because I want people to like me or I don’t want to start an argument. This is a matter of life or death and it would seem I’ve chosen death almost every single time.

So, I implore you Christian: please read your Bible! You don’t have to know all the answers or even need to understand the original Hebrew or Greek! If you have a version of the Bible you don’t understand, buy a new one in a version you can! If you can’t read, find an audio version (there are several free ones online). I challenge myself in this as well. Even though I’m in the word everyday for class I still need to read it in my own time. It is how God speaks to us and how he shows us his love. Granted, it’s not the only way but there was a reason he gave us this gift in the first place.

Also, as a side note, I’ve been praying more and more about how God wants to use me in this life. More and more I do not have a solid answer but I’m learning to be faithful in prayer and to just throw up my hands and say: “Lord, this is yours. Do with it what you will”.

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Posted in Life Changes
Tags: Awesome, Brokenness, Endurance, Greatness, Jesus, Legacy, Old Habbits Die Hard, Sanctification