There's No Way to Serve Jesus, Without...
What does it cost you to follow Christ? Everything. The sad reality is that many people are just part of a crowd, many are in the crowd of those who listen to Piper, Washer, Conway, MacArthur, yet they themselves have not truly submitted to the Lordship of Christ. Search yourself out this very day... have you come to saving faith? Or do you just wish you had the reality of Christ that you see others have? Don't be part of the wrong crowd...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JQOBMi4QS8
...knowing that the costs will be great. Be it sacrificing your family, friends, personal habits, idols, etc., the believer will be prompted by the Holy Ghost, along the way, to make choices for the Kingdom; and those choices will never be easy, which is why they call it a sacrifice.
Being a believer who is soul'd out to Jesus and willing to follow Him down that narrow, difficult path, means surrender, sacrifice, and personal cost. Being a Jesus person is not for the wishy-washy, nor is it for the half committed heart. It will cost you everything, but the rewards are eternal.
The costs will come, and you must be ready to say, "Yes, Lord yes!" Sometimes God reveals the changes and sacrifices through His Holy Ghost. Other times the sacrifices are revealed in seeing the need to discard and rid yourself of the things in life and things that life includes as enjoyable and pleasurable, in order to please Him and be more like what He has called us to be.
No matter how we discover the need for change, it is never easy, and it is never over. Thus, we know what it means to be subjected to the process of
sanctification on our way to
glorification, following that moment of
surrender and
repentance known as
justification!
Great post FAL! We all need to be reminded of the costs, from time to time! :type: