Are You Done Yet?

“But don’t begin until you count the cost. For who would begin construction of a building without first calculating the cost to see if there is enough money to finish it? Otherwise, you might complete only the foundation before running out of money, and then everyone would laugh at you. They would say, ‘There’s the person who started that building and couldn’t afford to finish it!’

Luke 14:28-30

 

 

When I was a child (my bride claims I still am a child in many regards, but we'll leave that right here), I had grand dreams of what I wanted to become when I grew up.  As I grew older (but not up - shout out to Jimmy Buffett), I began to pay closer attention to the people who worked in the fields in which I had an interest.  What I noticed was that there was a cost involved, whether personal, scholastic, emotional.

 

How sad is it to spend the wads of money to attend college and then decide going to class is not something want to do?  Yes, I speak from experience. Count the cost of that decision and you'll begin to see that my four year degree ended up taking me 5 years.  

 

Suppose you are building a house and you find out, in the middle of the project, that you hadn't counted on the roof costing so much?  

 

My Grampa told me, "When you plan to do something, expect it to cost 3 times what you thought and you'll probably be able to make it."

 

You see, God has given us a mission in life (sometimes more than one mission) and there is a cost involved that we must be willing to pay in order to complete what God has for us to do.  It may be that we have to sacrifice "fun time" in order to study.  It may mean that we have to sacrifice vacation time to help someone who needs us.  It might mean that we must sacrifice our great day so we can comfort someone in sorrow.

 

The point is, we are commanded by Christ to take into account the cost and finish what we start.