Count The Cost
As I was looking at used vehicles with my daughter last week, I couldn’t help but think about how important it is to count the cost. On the one hand there are cars that are only a couple thousand dollars. We aren’t surprised to find things like broken windshields, bumpers, and torn interiors in these worn-out, low-cost vehicles. These breaks and tears fit the cost and we have low expectations. On the other hand, there are cars that sell for tens of thousands of dollars in which we would want everything to be in tip top shape and appearance.
How about counting the cost in a sport? If you were to get together with some other friends for a fun time shooting, you might not care how many targets you break or miss because you have not invested much time in practice. But if, on the other hand, you are on a league and you practice every week, the costs are high, and you won’t want to miss anything! The same would go for a casual game of golf versus a PGA event or a pleasurable time with friends playing volleyball versus an Olympic match up. The higher the cost, the more important the performance.
Clothing is the same way. I have pairs of jeans that have faded spots worn into the knees, threads starting to fray around the pockets, and oil and paint stains randomly scattered about. You might say that I have fully depreciated these jeans and their cost is pretty low. If I happen to tear these jeans while crossing a barb-wire fence or spill some more oil on them from the car, it is not a big deal. But then there is that brand new pair of jeans that has not even begun to fade. They are still quite valuable and the last thing I want to do is wear them anywhere they might get dirty or torn.
Relationships have a cost too. If a complete stranger, somebody I have never invested time into, gets hurt, I will care and try to help. But be assured, there will be a limit to my willingness to help and I might pass them on to someone else for the care they need. However, if that somebody who got hurt happened to be my wife, there would be no earthly limits to my willingness to help and I would not want to pass her aid on to anybody else. We all agree, the cost of the marriage relationship is very high, and the commitment in that relationship naturally follows.
And finally, salvation comes at a cost. What is the cost of eternal salvation and the forgiveness of your sins? If you count the cost of salvation to be merely something you do, like going to church or saying a prayer or doing good deeds, the cost is no more than any other worldly activity and you will never be anything different than the rest of the hard-working world. But if you count the cost of salvation to be what God says it is, something of infinite value (i.e. the sacrificial blood of the Son of God), your life will be transformed into something out of this world. You will become like a new Rolls Royce in a parking lot full of used Ford Taurus’s, like an Olympic champion competing at an informal sporting event, like a new suit of clothes, too precious to be soiled, and like a committed partner in the most intimate relationship ever. Salvation comes at a wonderful price that only Jesus can provide. Have you counted that cost?
“…Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.”
1 Peter 1:18-19