The Cost

“Everything comes at a cost.  So then, in everything we must ask,  ‘What is the cost and is it worth it?’”

Loren Thornburg

It’s easy to recognize the cost of something monetarily.  Yet, have we considered the greater cost that everything has in our life?  Cost is defined as the price, sacrifice or loss required to acquire, accomplish or maintain anything.   Every dream, desire, goal, and decision comes at a price, both good and bad.  There is even a cost in the things we believe.  The one who believes they have nothing to will sacrifice the pleasure of being valued.  It costs them peace and joy to believe that is true.  Often the costs are worth it, but other times we don’t realize the things we are sacrificing.  Although, we can’t always know what the costs will be, we would be wise to consider them.    

“They traded the truth about God for a lie.  So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator Himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen.”

Romans 1:25 NLT

Jesus knows all about counting the costs and invites us to do the same. He counted what it would cost to die and bear the weight of our sins and decided that relationship with you and I was worth the sacrifice.  He counted many other costs along the way.  In the desert it wasn’t worth believing the temptations and lies from the enemy because He knew what that would cost him.  He knew that He would be trading in truth if He believed the lies.  When we believe the lies of the enemy we sacrifice experiencing all of the abundant life that our Father wants to give.  This is what Paul is talking about here in Romans.  The people of Rome were experiencing the cost of trading truth for lies.  Each lie comes with a price, starting with joy and peace and continuing to relationship, intimacy, health, abundant life, and so much more.  So we must ask ourselves what are our lies costing us and is it worth it? 

Process of Progress

“In order to progress you must accept the process.”

Loren Thornburg

We all want progress but very few want the process it takes to get there.  The process is the road between where you are now and where you want to be.  Unfortunately, for most things it is not as fast as we would like.  I recently climbed “the incline,” a famous vertical in Colorado Springs.  In just under a mile you climb 2000 steps and 2000 feet of elevation.  When you look up you can’t even see the top of the climb.  It seems never ending and yet when you keep taking one more step you eventually arrive at the top.  As you keep taking steps you look back and you realize how far you have come.  I am encouraged when I do this in my own life, looking back to how far I’ve come in the last year.  When I see the ways I’ve changed and grown it encourages me to keep moving forward.  I couldn’t see them in the midst of the slow process, but now looking back I can see.  Just as the incline didn’t seem like each step was getting me very far so it doesn’t in my life.  Yet, I made it to the top and so I will keep stepping in life knowing it is getting me closer to where I want to be.  

“We each carried out our servant assignment. I planted the seed, Apollos watered the plants, but God made you grow. It’s not the one who plants or the one who waters who is at the center of this process but God, who makes things grow. Planting and watering are menial servant jobs at minimum wages. What makes them worth doing is the God we are serving. You happen to be God’s field in which we are working.”

1 Corinthians 3:5-9 Message

I wish every process was as short as climbing the incline.  Often the process seems so long it’s hard to celebrate any level of progress.  The pain of the climb becomes too much and too hard to continue to endure.  Yet, it is God that makes it worth it.  With Him it’s not about the progress we are working towards, but about serving Him.  He measures our climbs so much differently than we do.  You are in search of progress and He is in search of you.  You are the progress and your heart is the goal, much more than any destination you are searching to reach.  So keep climbing, keep working, and keep looking back; but look to Him rather than your process to determine your progress.  He is at the center of this process and He is what makes it worth continuing.  It’s not how far you’ve come or how far you can go, but Who you go with and Who goes with you.  Whatever your climb, enjoy the One who goes with you and makes it all worth it.  

Small Matters

“It doesn’t look like much, but it matters;

It doesn’t seem significant, but it will be;

It doesn’t appear of much value, but just wait;

For in time ALL the small things matter.”
Loren Thornburg

It’s about an inch long and a few centimeters wide, but when this clamp rusted off the back of the fridge a slow drip of water began.  You couldn’t see it or hear it, but over time you couldn’t miss the leak that soaked the closet behind the connecting wall.  Three weeks later after hours of fans, days of work, and hundreds of dollars the house was restored.   It’s hard to believe that something so small caused something so damaging.  Yet, isn’t this how much of life operates both for building up and tearing down? The small things matter because they don’t stay small.  They grow over time in whichever direction they began, starting with one small step.  I find encouragement in knowing that the dream that seems impossible to reach is attainable over time starting with movement, however small in that direction.  I also find caution in knowing that damage begins with just one little thing.  What I thought wasn’t a big deal or didn’t matter because it was insignificant in size, does in fact make a difference.  We must attend to the small things.  What are your small things?

“The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed planted in a field.  It is the smallest of all seeds, but it becomes the largest of garden plants; it grows into a tree, and birds come and make nests in its branches.”

Matthew 13: 31-32 NLT

Jesus cares about the little things.  The message of this parable is in the smallness of a seed that is to all appearances insignificant, yet grows into something much larger than expected or seemingly possible. The invitation of Jesus, to believe and follow Him seems simple and small, yet when we really trust in Christ it is revolutionary and transforming.  His life in us brings about the most unexpected and radical change in our lives.  Mustard plants, are not trees, but are yellow-flowered bushes that paint the hillsides.  However, Jesus wants you to know that He can take your smallness and grow it into more than you thought possible.  A lowly plant becomes a tree of power and authority in the hands of Jesus.  So let us be content with small seeds and small steps, trusting Jesus, knowing that He can grow us into something seemingly impossible, full of life and beauty.  

(Some of these facts and thoughts are taken from www.RayStedman.org)