Don’t Forget to Count the Cost
“For which of you, wanting to build a tower, doesn’t first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? ”
I’m pushing 40, Vic is pushing 50, and as time goes on we are reconciling - both as individuals and within our marriage - that our walk with Christ, our faithfulness, and our surrender to His Will has cost us more than we initially thought we’d have to pay.
I was a Business Economics major and he was a Corporate Finance major so cost, and specifically opportunity cost, is something we are well familiar with. Opportunity cost is the one concept in school that has stuck with me so poignantly because you can apply it to any facet of life, including and most importantly when it comes to walking “The Way.”
Because “strait is the gate and narrow is the way”, we’ve decided not to cut corners and sell our faith short. Vic could have long gained the notoriety he so deserves as an actor and a writer but every opportunity that has been presented to him (thus far) would require that he sell a piece of his soul in order to gain the win, the advancement, or the “level up.” Many opportunities have been presented to us both but the cost would have simply cost too much - our peace of mind, peace within our marriage, and The Spirit of Peace over our home would have been the price to pay.
“Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.”
Waiting on The Lord costs A LOT but His peace pays a million times greater, that is where the hope of our faith lies. And I know without reservation that if The Lord chooses to bless us with what we are believing for, it will come for the betterment of (rather than the detriment to) our souls.
Whatever you are believing for, whatever you are trusting God in and through, don’t forget to count the cost - both coming and going. Whatever He asks you to pay (give up) will only be that which you never really needed in the first place.
I don’t always feel like this is true but when I count the blessings that have come from taking the losses, there is no denying.
“So the Lord blessed Job in the second half of his life even more than in the beginning. ”
