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COUNTING THE COST Harry
Bethel When unsaved people are presented with the Gospel message they go through a mental process of counting the cost of obedience to the truth. The true Gospel message has two parts. The first is that you must repent of your sins; that is, you must turn away from everything in your life that you know is wrong and sinful. The second part is that you must turn to Jesus for forgiveness of your sins. But only a relatively few, after counting the cost, choose the Narrow Way. Likewise, when Christians are presented with scriptural truth that is new to them and requires obedience they go through a mental process of counting the cost of obeying. For example, a Christian hears the truth about indebtedness from the Word of God---"The borrower is slave to the lender" (Prov. 22:7), and "Owe no man anything, but to love one another" (Rom. 13:8). When a Christian hears these truths for the first time and told that God really does mean what He says, he starts the mental process of counting the cost of obeying. 'How can I possibly live in this country without ever borrowing money?' 'If I accept this as being true then I may never own a house.' 'What would I do if I lost my job and didn't have the money to pay the rent and make the car payments? It would be very embarrassing if my friends and mother-in-law knew I couldn't pay my bills. But if I could borrow money until the hard times passed, then nobody would ever know.' 'If I accept it as being true that I should not owe anyone anything, then I can't borrow the money to start the business I've been planning.' 'It's pretty risky to live that way. A lot can happen when a man has a wife and children.' 'I don't have enough faith to live that way.' And so the process of counting the cost goes on until one accepts or rejects the truth under consideration. In these last days attempts are being made to make the Narrow Way as broad as a ten-lane highway. We are living in a time in Church history when many of God's people are not hearing truths that cost something to obey. And if they do hear them, they count the cost and say it's too high. Beloved, it never costs too much to obey the Word of God. Even if there are no apparent immediate or long-term costs in this life, there is, more importantly, an eternal cost of disobeying revealed truth. We become more like Christ when we walk in the light that is revealed from the Word of God. Although the highest motive for obedience is not for rewards, some who make it to heaven will lose rewards. "...For one star differeth from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead" (1 Cor. 15:41-42). |