Counting the Cost

Too often we have been told that becoming a Christian is as simple as saying a prayer to ask Jesus into our hearts. For me, this happened at the age of 4. Jesus coming into my heart was explained as an unbelievably joyous time that all will be better because He now resides there. Nobody told me that when He "moved in" He was going to completely and utterly change the landscape of not only my heart, but of my entire being. I no longer could be the me I so carefully planned to be. I understand that the Kindergarten "altar call" I heard wouldn't have gone over well if Mrs. Burke had said, "I hope you know your life as you know it is now completely over!"

But in all reality, wasn't it?

Jesus tells us to die to self, carry a cross, sell all we have, and follow Him. As a 4 year old (and honestly, as a 23 year old), that's not in the personal game plan. If I truly let Jesus in (whether that had been in Kindergarten or now in my twenties), my life is completely over.

But for some reason, we aren't told that when we are given the "good news." Evangelists and pastors today tend to be so focused on numbers rather than on true transformation (but that's a topic for later discussion), that we have constantly been told that with Jesus there is joy, hope, and peace in such a dark, hopeless world. Not that I don't agree, because with Him does come the truest form of joy, hope, and peace, but how dare we leave out the true cost of Christianity: transformation. And here in the South is the worst. Never have I met more Christians who love a Jesus that will make them more prosperous, more blessed, and more comfortable. In all honesty, I am unsure of what Jesus they are following.

Transformation is not comfortable. Change is not pleasant. Yet Jesus, the Jesus of the Bible, calls us to change, live a transformational life, and be not of this world. I'm unsure if most Christians have been challenged to count the cost. This Jesus might ask everything of them.

When it comes to "counting the cost," few articulate it better than C.S. Lewis.

Here are a few excerpts from C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity:

I find a good many people have been bothered by what I said about Our Lord's words, ''Be ye perfect". Some people seem to think this means "Unless you are perfect, I will not help you", and as we cannot be perfect, then, if He meant that, our position is hopeless. But I do not think He did mean that. I think He meant "The only help I will give is help to become perfect. You may want something less: but I will give you nothing less."

If you give Him an inch, He will take an ell. Dozens of people go to Him to be cured of some one particular sin which they are ashamed of or which is obviously spoiling daily life. Well, He will cure it all right: but He will not stop there. That may be all you asked; but if once you call Him in, He will give you the full treatment. That is why He warned people to "count the cost'' before becoming Christians. "Make no mistake," He says, "if you let me in, I will make you perfect. The moment you put yourself in My hands, that is what you are in for. Nothing less, or other, than that. You have free will, and if you choose, you can push Me away. But if you do not push Me away, understand I am going to see this job through."

Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on: you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently he starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of- throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.

The command "Be ye perfect" is not idealistic gas. Nor is it a command to do the impossible. He is going to make us into creatures that can obey that command. He said (in the Bible) that we were 'gods' and He is going to make good His words. If we let Him- for we can prevent Him, if we choose- He will make the feeblest and filthiest of us into a god or goddess, a dazzling, radiant, immortal creature, pulsating all through with such energy and joy and wisdom and love as we cannot now imagine, a bright stainless mirror which reflects back to God perfectly (though, of course, on a smaller scale) His own boundless power and delight and goodness. The process will be long and in parts very painful, but that is what we are in for. Nothing less. He meant what He said.


Some of us may have been fed the idea that once a Christian, life gets easy. Or once a Christian, everything straightens out. We could sit together for days telling stories of how that is absolutely not true. Once a Christian, though, something very specific takes place: God intends to transform us. Asking Jesus into our heart might not be as Sunday-school fun as we so often paint it out to be. Jesus comes in to shake our foundation, knock walls down, and completely rebuild us. He says "be perfect" and then shows us how. He intends to change us, to make us able to be perfect.

Christianity is not always as feel-good as many sugar coat it to be: but oh, it is worth it. Living a Christian life is as simple as this: allowing Christ into our lives to rip apart and break down all that we have built ourselves to be, and then rebuild us in His likeness.

Painful? Definitely.
Completely and utterly life-changing? You bet.
Worth it? Absolutely.

So take a second and count the cost.
Because He intends to make you perfect.

Matthew 5:48
"Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect."

Safe with the Shepherd

Unrest.
We've all felt it.
You're probably feeling it this very moment.
Unsettled. Worried. Nervous. Anxious.

You want security. Peace. Comfort.

You've searched in all the wrong places and found one constant: it never satisfies.

Let me share with you what does. (And let me open with words from author Max Lucado - he tends to articulate best what is tugging on our hearts):

Come with me to the most populated prison in the world. The facility has more inmates than bunks. More prisoners than plates. More residents than resources. Come with me to the world's most oppressive prison. Just ask the inmates; they will tell you. They are overworked and underfed. Their walls are bare and bunks are hard. No prison is so populated, no prison so oppressive, and, what's more, no prison is so permanent. Most inmates never leave. They never escape. They never get released. They serve a life sentence in this overcrowded, underprovisioned facility.

The name of the prison? You'll see it over the entrance. Rainbowed over the gate are four cast-iron letters that spell out its name:

W-A-N-T.

The prison of want. You've seen her prisoners. They are "in want." The want something. They want something bigger. Nicer. Faster. Thinner. They want. They don't want much, mind you. They want just one thing. One new job. One new car. One new house. One new spouse. They don't want much. They want just one. And when they have "one," they will be happy. And they are right- they will be happy. When they have "one," they will leave the prison. But then it happens. The new-car small passes. The new job gets old. The neighbors buy a larger television set. The new spouse has bad habits. The sizzle fizzles, and before you know it, another ex-con breaks parole and returns to jail.

Are you in prison? You are if you feel better when you have more and worse when you have less. You are if joy is one delivery away, one transfer away, one award away, or one makeover away. If your happiness comes from something you deposit, drive, drink, or digest, then face it - you are in prison, the prison of want.

That's the bad news. The good news is, you have a visitor. And your visitor has a message that can get you paroled. Make your way to the receiving room. Take your seat in the chair, and look across the table at the psalmist David. He motions for you to lean forward.

"I have a secret to tell you," he whispers, "the secret of satisfaction. 'The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want"(Psalm 23:1).

David has found the pasture where discontent goes to die. It's as if he is saying, "What I have in God is greater than what I don't have in life." You think you and I could learn to say the same?

So, are you in prison? Are you ready to get out?

Are you ready to be rid of discontent?

It all begins in Psalm 23. As Lucado pointed at, it's as simple as this:

The LORD is my Shepherd; I shall not want.

So let me pose this question: is He your shepherd?

Before we can discuss the green pastures you lie in, the quiet waters He leads you by, or the fact that your cup can overflow, we must first establish whether or not He is your Shepherd.

Because if the LORD is your Shepherd, you shall not be in want.

If He is our Shepherd, we know His voice.
If He is our Shepherd, we have peace.
If He is our Shepherd, we have security.
If He is our Shepherd, we don't have to look elsewhere for anything.
If He is our Shepherd, we are not in want.
We are safe with the Shepherd.

Is someone posing as a shepherd in your life? If you are feeling unrest, I can bargain you are. If you're hoping for the next best thing in life to finally fill that need, I can see the signs. What have you let become your shepherd? What voice are you listening to most? What voice do you know better than any other? Is His voice the one you hear, listen to, and are comforted by?

Is He your shepherd?

If not, what is?

It's time to stop listening to the other voices more often. It's time to stop immersing yourself in the lies of our culture, your jobs, and the people around you. It's time for you to realize you will never be filled by them. Nothing on this earth can satisfy you. Nothing. It's time for you to realize you are safe. Safe with the Shepherd.

But realizing it is only the first step. Action must be taken. Change must take place.

So, how does He become your Shepherd?

He becomes your shepherd once you know Him better than all the posers and empty promises you've let lead you. He becomes your shepherd once you listen to His voice more than the shouting lies you've been convinced by your entire life. He becomes your shepherd when you study His character. When you know His tendencies. When you know His story. And he becomes your shepherd when you sit at His feet.

So go ahead.
Lie down.
Rest.
Be carefree.
Be safe.

Just like a sheep at the feet of its shepherd.

Approval Addicts: Where's My Husband?

Today's post is written by a friend of mine, Sari Casper. Like the others who've shared their stories this week, Sari is in my young adult "small group" at Cross Point and has been digging into the issue of idols, empty promises, and searching for approval in all the wrong places.

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In who or in what do you find your approval? Will you feel accepted once you reach your goal weight, find the “one” that pledges to love you forever, be in the “in crowd”, or maybe land the perfect job? And what happens if none of those things ever occur? Do we feel worthless, and undeserving of anything good in life? This is a tough topic to discuss when you realize YOU are guilty of searching for acceptance in all the wrong places.

Being in my mid twenties I often find myself thinking about my future husband. When am I going to meet him, why haven’t I met him yet, what am I doing wrong God, oh he looks cute maybe he’s the one, and so forth and so on. God created man and woman to be together as one so it only makes sense that I would like to get married someday…preferably soon. But is it really an innate desire I’m aching for or a desire that will make me finally feel like I’ve made it in this world? I’ll finally have a man who thinks I’m beautiful just the way I am, a man who wants me and only me, a man who thinks I’m absolutely perfect and wouldn’t change a thing about me if he could.

What happened between the time I was a child and where I am now? What happened to the unconditional love I received from my parents and the lessons about how much God loves me and that His love is sufficient enough? Why must we chase after the approval of others in order to feel like we have meaning in our lives?

I can’t answer these questions because I’m struggling with them myself. The only thing I know is that every time I find myself asking God why he hasn’t given me a husband yet, I only hear Him asking me “Why aren’t I enough?”

He’s not enough because I don’t know Him like I’ll know my husband. I don’t know Him like I know my friends who I’m seeking approval from. His approval means nothing because He’s not a constant in my life. Sure I know in my head that He loves me and that’s all that matters, but in my heart it’s a different story.

So where do I go from here? How do I get to that point where He is enough, where my value comes from Him and Him alone? It starts with the basics of a relationship. It’s easy to find your value from others because you see them, you talk to them and you know what it takes to fit in with them. Imagine if I knew Jesus like I know my best friends? Imagine the absolute, unending love I would find in just being me.

So that is my desire. To know Jesus as if He were right here watching my favorite tv show with me. I want Him to be my best friend. Perhaps then I won’t be worried about whether I’ll ever get married or ever reach my goal weight. It won’t matter because I’ll have all the love and approval I’ll ever need from the only one who can truly make me feel complete.

So you thought you had to keep this up
All the work that you do
So we think that you're good

And you can't believe it's not enough
All the walls you built up
Are just glass on the outside

So let 'em fall down
There's freedom waiting in the sound
When you let your walls fall to the ground
We're here now

This is where the healing begins, oh
This is where the healing starts
When you come to where you're broken within
The light meets the dark
The light meets the dark

Afraid to let your secrets out
Everything that you hide
Can come crashing through the door now
But too scared to face all your fear
So you hide but you find
That the shame won't disappear

Sparks will fly as grace collides
With the dark inside of us
So please don't fight
This coming light
Let this blood come cover us

His blood can cover us

…….
Tenth Avenue North