The Cost part 5
When you're counting the cost it's important to understand that we are called to live out of our abundance. Jesus came that we might have life, and have it more abundantly. So we don't have to kill ourselevs in order to lay our lives down, if I can say it that way. If you have two coats, and someone has none... that's an easy fix. That's easy math. But I don't think your heavenly Father wants you to give away your only coat and then freeze to death. Like the example I always use of the airplane. They tell you to put your own oxygen mask on first, right? Because you can't help anybody if you're lying on the floor unconscious. So give it all you've got, yes. But understand that you are BLESSED to be a blessing. God doesn't require anything from you that He hasn't already provided for you. Genesis 12:2 says, "And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing." God will bless us, and we will be a blessing. It's that simple. So the cost... the cost is everything. Let's be clear. Love is giving everything you have and everything you are. But when you give it, you're not losing it. You're sharing it. Experiencing it in the act of giving it. So that cost is a small price to pay. Nothing that is given in love is ever lost. Because love never fails. Because love endures. It might not get you the result you think it should, and it might not get you any result right away. But a farmer doesn't dig up a seed immediately after planting it. He knows that seeds take time to grow and mature. He knows that there are seasons for planting and seasons for reaping. So don't be impatient. People move at their own pace. It doesn't have to be the same as your pace. Sometimes slow and steady wins the race. And, anyway, it's not your responsibility to make the seed bring forth fruit. It's your responsibility to plant the seed. Some plant, some water, but it is God that gets the harvest, right? Just do your part. Give what you've got to those that you come into contact with. And don't worry about what they do with what you give them. That's not on you. That's between them and God. So just give what you've got. By knowing what you've got. Count the cost. And understand that it's a small price to pay. If I give you my three T's (Time, Talent, Treasure) then I can't be selfish. If I give it to you then I won't have it for me. But if I'm living out of my abundance I know that I don't NEED it for me. Sometimes having too much stuff can weigh you down. Sometimes you need to unburden yourself. To live simply. Free and easy. It's ok to have stuff... as long as your stuff doesn't have you. As long as you are using what you've been blessed with... to be a blessing. Pay it forward. Receive it and release it. Let it flow through you. As one preacher likes to say, "You are the spout where the glory comes out." God has filled us up. All we have to do is fill ourselves to overflowing with what we've already been filled with. Fill ourselves up by letting God love us, and then loving Him back by loving each other with that same love. Jesus paid it all. And now we can do the same. He laid His life down for us, we can lay our lives down for each other!