For thought and meditation

[rl69]

Which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it… LUKE 14:28
Our Lord was not referring here to a cost which we have to count, but to a cost which He has already counted. The cost was those thirty years in Nazareth, those three years of popularity, scandal, and hatred, the unfathomable agony He experienced in Gethsemane, and the assault upon Him at Calvary— the central point upon which all of time and eternity turn. Jesus Christ has counted the cost. In the final analysis, people are not going to laugh at Him and say, “This man began to build and was not able to finish” (Luke 14:30).
The conditions of discipleship given to us by our Lord in verses 26, 27, and 33 mean that the men and women He is going to use in His mighty building enterprises are those in whom He has done everything. “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple ” (Luke 14:26). This verse teaches us that the only men and women our Lord will use in His building enterprises are those who love Him personally, passionately, and with great devotion— those who have a love for Him that goes far beyond any of the closest relationships on earth. The conditions are strict, but they are glorious.
All that we build is going to be inspected by God. When God inspects us with His searching and refining fire, will He detect that we have built enterprises of our own on the foundation of Jesus? (see 1 Corinthians 3:10-15). We are living in a time of tremendous enterprises, a time when we are trying to work for God, and that is where the trap is. Profoundly speaking, we can never work for God. Jesus, as the Master Builder, takes us over so that He may direct and control us completely for His enterprises and His building plans; and no one has any right to demand where he will be put to work.

[buckwheatpaul]

Great lesson Ronnie....thanks...Paul

[Boaz]

Again to seek the spirit and do what he would have done .

[USMC87]

Amen and thank you for a great lesson.

[Blackwater]

Amen to all the above. So often, we take on a task or set out to do something, and quit halfway through whatever it is. We simply have trouble SUSTAINING our efforts, and focusing our attention on what's before us. We have "feet'a clay," as Hemingway once put it. I pray that by reading these type passages and words of wisdom, we may come to shore up our faith, and KEEP it in action until the job is finished. That, for all of us, is when we're finally called Home again. What a joyous day that will be for those who pay heed to God's love, and his seemingly almost endless mercy and grace. What a wonderful Lord we serve!!!