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Well if you've read my testimony (I posted it under the Testimony heading) then you will be able to understand a little of where I'm coming from. So...I title this thread "Counting the Cost"
Am I willing to give up all for Jesus? That question is loaded with more then we can imagine. When I think of this question, my mind automatically goes to material things. If I had to give up our house, vehicles, furniture, and all other luxeries. As much as one can imagine it, I believe that I would be willing to do this, even living in a cardboard box on the street, if God wanted it. I guess I'm just not necessarily attached to things. It's when it gets personal that I start to wonder.
What if I had to give up my boys? What if I had to give up my husband? What if I had to give up my own life? I didn't put this in my testimony, but earlier this year I almost died (following my second surgery). I found out what people who have strokes feel like - helplessly trapped in your own body - unable to communicate - laying there in the trama room while you are poked with needles and hooked up to machines. It's easy to say that you would be willing to give up your own life, but most of us don't know what that actually looks like. When Jesus talks about our willingness to give up everything, he doesn't limit that to material things - it is personal, it is imtimate. Peter was a married man. I wonder how his wife felt when he left all to follow after Christ? who took care of his family? And, how did Peter feel about leaving his family behind?
What if 'counting the cost' means I lose one or both of my boys? Would I still be willing to follow or would the cost be too high? What if he took my health? What if he took my life? I am reminded of someone that I used to know, a very godly woman, who developed cancer and ended up leaving behind her husband and 6 kids. She was willing to take all that he had for her, even though there was crippling pain, confusion, muteness, death. She was willing to take it, leaving her family in the end, for Him. Do I have that same devotion? Do we (as God's people) have that same love for the Savior?
It's easy to say "yes", but hard to consider what that could mean. Then, after understanding it, still being able to follow...
"Though he slay me, yet will I trust" Job 13:15
What does counting the cost mean to you?
Am I willing to give up all for Jesus? That question is loaded with more then we can imagine. When I think of this question, my mind automatically goes to material things. If I had to give up our house, vehicles, furniture, and all other luxeries. As much as one can imagine it, I believe that I would be willing to do this, even living in a cardboard box on the street, if God wanted it. I guess I'm just not necessarily attached to things. It's when it gets personal that I start to wonder.
What if I had to give up my boys? What if I had to give up my husband? What if I had to give up my own life? I didn't put this in my testimony, but earlier this year I almost died (following my second surgery). I found out what people who have strokes feel like - helplessly trapped in your own body - unable to communicate - laying there in the trama room while you are poked with needles and hooked up to machines. It's easy to say that you would be willing to give up your own life, but most of us don't know what that actually looks like. When Jesus talks about our willingness to give up everything, he doesn't limit that to material things - it is personal, it is imtimate. Peter was a married man. I wonder how his wife felt when he left all to follow after Christ? who took care of his family? And, how did Peter feel about leaving his family behind?
What if 'counting the cost' means I lose one or both of my boys? Would I still be willing to follow or would the cost be too high? What if he took my health? What if he took my life? I am reminded of someone that I used to know, a very godly woman, who developed cancer and ended up leaving behind her husband and 6 kids. She was willing to take all that he had for her, even though there was crippling pain, confusion, muteness, death. She was willing to take it, leaving her family in the end, for Him. Do I have that same devotion? Do we (as God's people) have that same love for the Savior?
It's easy to say "yes", but hard to consider what that could mean. Then, after understanding it, still being able to follow...
"Though he slay me, yet will I trust" Job 13:15
What does counting the cost mean to you?
