During the years I was in the manufacturing business, one of the most important duties I had was setting the individual prices for the parts in our product line, as well as quoting custom jobs. So how would I even begin when figuring out much to charge customers for those various parts. It is probably similar to the way many other businesses begin…you first have to “count the cost”. What are the expenses going to be etc. and go from there, keeping in mind you can only charge what the market will bear-and you’ll quickly find out what it will bear if your price is too high!
When I was a boy there was a house being built nearby that we sometimes would drive by. I noticed that construction on the house had been stopped for quite a while, so I said something to my father about it. He simply said, “Maybe they ran out of money.” The pay-as-you-go method was much more common then than it is now! But the construction never started again on that house. Very little was every built and nothing was finished. By the time I moved away small trees and large weeds were taking over the property.
Over 30 years ago, not far from our current home, there was a huge “mansion” being built. I would drive by and from a distance watch it slowly going up…all the cement mixers, piles and piles of lumber. Then eventually the shape of the building-three stories! Construction seemed to be going well and then it all stopped. Weeks turned into months…then years. I would drive by and look at that HUGE unfinished building and think what happened? It had a roof and openings for windows and doors-but they were never installed and no siding on the house either! Eventually a local builder bought the house and after renovating and finishing it, he and his family made it their home!
“But don’t begin until you count the cost. For who would begin construction of a building without first calculating the cost to see if there is enough money to finish it? Otherwise, you might complete only the foundation before running out of money, and then everyone would laugh at you. They would say, ‘There’s the person who started that building and couldn’t afford to finish it!’ Luke 14:28-30 (NLT)
So, is Jesus saying we need to pay for salvation? NO! Salvation is free-Jesus paid the price with his blood for our sins-we just have to confess our sins to Him and have faith in Him to save us-that price is paid in full. I believe the cost to “follow” that Jesus is talking about, is giving up ‘your will’ and ‘your way’ of doing things and start trusting God’s will and God’s way.
“For we know that when this tent we live in now is taken down-when we die and leave these bodies-we will have wonderful new bodies in heaven, homes that will be ours forevermore, made for us by God himself and not by human hands.” 2 Corinthians 5:1 (TLB)
Till Next Time…..
Leave a Reply