"Count The Cost"

Today, I just have a quick thought for you that I would like to share. I saw this sticky note yesterday online. I'm not sure who it is written too. Probably, his parents? When I saw it, it reminded me of a few years ago when WWJD was really big.

As you most likely know WWJD means (What Would Jesus Do?) It became a really big slogan with bracelets and everything. The idea was that no matter the situation you were facing you were to ask yourself (What Would Jesus Do?) and then do that because that way you would be making the right choice about what ever situation was before you.
 
Jesus told His disciples something that would get them thinking about making right choices as well and it was long before 

                                                                     came along!

Check out Matthew 16:24-27 "...If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works."
 
In Luke 14:27-30 He gave them this illustration in order to make His point to them a little clearer.  "...And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it -- lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.'

All of this was Jesus' way of telling His disciple to 'look both ways' or as He put it to 'count the cost'. What this means is He wanted them and us to consider the two options we all have to make. We can choose to become His disciple and serve in the kingdom of heaven and therefore, reap the blessings that come with that choice, or we can choose the kingdom of hell and, of course, reap the unhappy results of that choice as well.

The truth is He isn't just talking about our Big Moment when we decide to accept Him as our Lord and Savior. He also wants us to 'look both ways' and choose which way we want to proceed in all the Little Choices we make along the way as well. We all know how important it is to look both directions and to make sure that it is safe to cross the street, after all no one wants to get hit by an oncoming car because we didn't take the time to look!

Jesus told His disciple to 'count the cost' of their choices for the same reason. He wanted them and us to make the right choices as well. He wants us to 'look both ways' in all the little choices that we make that might take our focus away from serving Him. If we step blindly without looking or rather act without thinking as believers, we might make a choice that causes us to be disobedient and walk into a place of sin. It is important for us to to look both ways and to count the cost so that we can walk safely with God instead of acting in a way that causes us to step into sin and away from God.

Remember, count the cost ...look both ways and STEP OUT SAFELY as His disciple!