“For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” (1 Cor. 6:20)
Is the destination worth the journey? If you live in the western hemisphere and desire to take a trip to the south pacific that destination is many thousands of miles away from your home. Many preparations must be made, weeks, if not months of planning must be considered, along with the cost of such an adventure. You must consider if the journey and all that it entails is worthy of the destination.
I mean no disrespect in this analogy, but did Jesus consider the cost that He would need to pay when the Father sent Him to sacrifice Himself for all mankind, did He see the destination as worthy of the price? “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Heb. 12:2)
Now, this is where He was before He left, He gained no further glory, for He is God, so the analogy is somewhat skewed, but it fits the subject matter here, do you actually realize the cost of following Jesus Christ?
The journey for us in a sense ends in heaven, it is for all intents and purposes, our final destination, and there is much more to it than simply repeating some words, getting baptized and then attending a one hour service once a week, there is a price to pay on this path. Not in our justification, that is the gift of God, the price in full was paid at the cross by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, but in our sanctification, in the renewing and transforming of not only our minds, but of our entire being. It is why nearly everyone I meet that I have the blessed opportunity to witness to at length I tell them to count the cost, because there is a price to pay on this path.
In my personal opinion Philippians 1:21 is the epitome of this price, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” Everything, all the time is to be devoted to the glory of God. We are not only dead in Christ but are to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice to the Almighty, our thoughts are to be held captive to Christ at all times, we are to trust without question that everything that comes into our lives is for good, everything that we say, do, or think is to glorify God in all ways.
This my friends is a heavy price.
“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” (Gal. 2:20)
My beautiful wife and I have been blessed with the financial wherewithal to not take an extended journey, but a short one, but at this moment in the history of man the possible disadvantageous possibilities far outweigh the enjoyment of the destination, but that is not how it is when you give the entirety of your life to the service of Almighty God for His glory, when you have committed yourself to following the Lamb of God. You cannot just sit in the pews and sing, “Where He leads, I will follow,” and then set stipulations upon Him as to how far, you cannot set conditions upon the Lord as to the amount that you will offer to Him of yourself.
Everything, all the time, all or nothing.
In our sanctification we have a choice though, we can be unprofitable or profitable, the Lord will not force anything upon us, you will arrive at your destination of heaven if you have been born-again. But you must consider this, how much do you desire to please your Master, how much are you willing to sacrifice for your King? Will you give everything, all the time of yourself, or do you still see a part of the journey as too much to bear?
